


Winning love by day, fighting evil by (Kryptonian) Moonlight...

by AuroraMoon



Category: Sailor Moon - All Media Types, Smallville, crossover - Fandom
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magical Boys, Magical Girls, Magical Pregnancy, Not Beta Read, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-04
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 14:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 91,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/954092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraMoon/pseuds/AuroraMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically a Sailor Moon-Smaville fusion universe, with Clark taking the place of the Kryptonian (Moon) Prince(ess), and the people in his life inexplicably turning into Sailor Warriors. Sounds cracky, but I'll do my best to turn it into a serious, non-cracky story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Once upon a Time...

**Author's Note:**

> Got randomly inspired by some people's comments about there needing to be a Smallville/Sailor Moon crossover from this fanfiction: http://archiveofourown.org/works/951095?show_comments=true&view_full_work=false#comment_4371538  
> where Lex meant to dress up as a magician but ended up reminding the readers more of Tuxedo mask.
> 
> So in order for this crossover to work, I decided that Krypton would be actually more like a 10th planet in the solar system that just mysteriously disappeared/got destroyed. (yes, I still consider Pluto a planet, so sue me). Only way this fan-fiction could actually make sense. Also, since a good majority of the Smallville characters are guys, I decided that some of them would have to suffer from gender-bending every time they transformed... just like the star-lights! And they will NOT BE AMUSED. Whahahaha. Who will suffer from it? Just wait and see!! I bet that it won't be who you think it will be.
> 
> But in the silver millennium before it gets destroyed, we'll have cameos of the girls from the show Young Justice. In case you don't know who they are:  
> 1\. Megan Manhunter, Martian Manhunter's niece, As Sailor Mars. I thought it was appropriate, considering that they do come from Mars. Also highly ironic, since the DC universe's version of Martians are highly weak to fire.... heheheh.  
> 2\. Artemis, one of Green Arrow's “family”, as Sailor Mercury. I thought it was a good match, considering how practical and level-headed she is.  
> 3\. Kara-El as Sailor Venus, hailing from The floating space city of Kandor that orbits around Venus. (she didn't show up in young Justice though).  
> 4\. Donna, Aka Wonder Girl, as Sailor Jupiter. Why not? Both are tough as nails, can kick ass, etc.
> 
> now, on with the story.....

Once upon a time, around 30,000 years ago..... there were a time called the Silver Millennium.

There was ten colony planets in the solar system, each governed by kings or queens. But there was one ultimate ruler of them all, The Empress Lara Lor-Van of the mighty Krypton Kingdom. They all answered to her, without question.

All the planets were utterly loyal to her, for she was a kind and just ruler who often treated all of her subjects very well and fairly. And her husband-consort, Jor-El, was well-matched in his intelligence and strong compassionate heart.

And of course, there was their handsome son, the Prince Kal-El. Anybody who had ever met him would often say that it was as if the Empress and her husband had genetically engineered him to have all of their best characteristics while having almost none of their bad habits/weaknesses. It was as if he had no flaws...

Of course, anybody who knew him well would laugh, and point out that he DID have flaws. Such as his tendency to be clumsy, his gluttony when it came to foods that he loved, and his tendency to want to enjoy life instead of being responsible.

And indeed, that last part seemed to be a growing problem far as Jor-El was concerned.  
\----------------------

“I have to say, our son has not been the same ever since he did that rite of passage. He seems to spend all of his time in his room, staring up at Earth though that magnifying plane-glass that he personally installed himself.” Jor-El commented, as he glanced worriedly at his wife.

The rite of passage that Jor-El was referring to, was something that every royal or noble member of the Krypton Kingdom did, even if they were born on the other planets instead of Planet Krypton. Once they reached young adulthood they were supposed to leave their own planets for 3 full years and live on the other planet colonies for a while in order to learn about the culture and the customs of the people living there.

Doing so was supposed to promote greater understanding and empathy, since people did have a tendency to feel... “patriotic” towards their own home planets. And thus they evaluated their own planet's importance over that of other planets....which Empress Lara often felt was the wrong attitude to have. No planet colony was supposed to be superior over the other ones, after all... they were all Equal in her eyes.

Kal-El had divided up his time amongst all the planets, choosing to live on each one for a few months until his 3 years were up and he had to return home. He had loved the experience, saying that all of the planets had so many great things to offer. However, the one planet he seemed highly enchanted with long after his trip was over, was Earth. 

Lara had to admit that Kal-El had developed a little bit of a unhealthy fixation with Earth. But she grinned as one possible explanation for it came to mind.

“It could be that he found his soul-mate on Earth. Did he ever tell you in his holo-letters who he had met on his trips there?” Lara mused out loud.

Jor-El frowned, not sure if he liked that idea. He had been against that rite of passage in the first place, feeling that his son was still too young and immature for such a thing. Now his wife was suggesting that his child had found somebody? He was too young, only 17 years old of age!

Why, Jor-El and Lara themselves had been 24 and 29 years old of age when they discovered that they were destined soul-mates. How could a child like Kal-El know that familiar, throbbing feeling in his heart when he was close to his destined one? It was impossible!

“He wrote often of the family he was staying with on Earth.... Jon-Kent and Mara-Kent. They're a very fine couple. There was also one of the Earth's Royal family members that he mentioned... The Lu-Thor family. He had became fast friends with a young man from that family who called himself Lex.” Jor-El answered.

Lara frowned at the name, for it meant Rose in Kryptonian. “What a strange name for a Earth man... I thought that they had certain ideas about what masculinity was and as such would balk at giving their sons names that would be considered feminine according to their culture.”

Jor-el scoffed. “Apparently his father, Li Lu-Thor decided that his family was destined to rise above their current rank and become the new royal ruling family.... you see, his son is apparently fifth in line to the Earth's throne. And so he decided to give his son a name that would reflect their future... the name Alex-ander.”

Lara's eyebrows rose at this. Talk about a utterly unflattering and pretentious name! In Kryptonian it was like declaring yourself god. On Earth, it was also a name for a type of herb that resembled celery. Either way, the father had to be insane to ever think that could be a good name.

She cleared her throat, and said in a highly diplomatic voice. “I can see why his son would choose to call himself Lex instead of that. Especially if he did not share his father's aspirations for the Earth throne.”

Jor-El simply nodded at this, and brought up the Holo-letters on one of his compact super-computers. In one of them, there was a 3d picture attached of both Kal-El and Lex Lu-Thor.

In it, Kal-El had one arm around Lex's shoulders and were laughing at something Lex had said. Lex was gazing at Kal-El with a very warm expression on his face.

One of Lex's most striking features were his red hair, which was almost the color of roses. It went well with his creamy white skin and his striking blue eyes.

Lara smiled as she looked at the photo that her husband showed her. Lex was certainly a very attractive-looking boy, and it was no wonder why Kal-El might be attracted to him. If Lex was more than just a handsome face, then he was the most likely reason for Kal-El's obsession with Earth.

Jor-El started grumbling. “I don't like it, my lady. Our son is still so young... must the reason be love? Couldn't it be something else?”

Lara mentally grinned to herself. Her husband was so overprotective of their son like a mother hen... it was just so cute!

“It doesn't have to be his soul-mate... it could be that they became like brothers and best friends in the short time they had together, and now Kal-El is missing him as well as the family he stayed with.” Lara   
told her husband.

Jor-El nodded. That was a explanation he could accept more easily. He did not have prejudices against same-sex pairings.... He just felt that Kal-El was too young to be paired with anybody, be they female or male.

“Perhaps if we were to host a party for all the planets and had them brought here, Kal-El would surely stop spending so much time in his room if he had his friend here to entertain him? But Kal-El might see though our ruse, so we have to make it look natural as possible.” Lara suggested.

Jor-El nodded again. There was their monthly planetary diplomatic meetings where all the planets got together in order to reinforce their strong allegiance with each other. It just so happened that their next one was coming up soon. He mentioned this to Lara, and her eyes lit up. 

“This is why I love you so, my dear husband. You always have the best ideas.” She then kissed him. That one kiss slowly turned into a long, passionate one....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kal-El sighed.

He hated those diplomatic meetings. They were always so boring! His mom had tried her best to liven up things by hosting a elegant costume party this time, but that didn't get rid of the boredom entirely. Instead it only added a new element of awkwardness.

For one thing, Kal-El couldn't dance even if his life depended on it. As a matter of fact he had clumsily trod all over the feet of the poor Martian princess a few minutes ago. Normally that wouldn't had happened if Me'gan worn her usual Sailor Mars uniform. Then he would had been able to see her feet, thus knowing where to steer his own feet. But she had been wearing this long red dress.... well, you got the picture. Her uncle J'onn J'onzz actually had to intervene and lead her away because she couldn't walk very well on her own after that. She had hobbled away looking greener than normal... which led Kal-El to worry whenever she was okay or not. Those martians had natural green skin to start with, so it was hard to tell if they ever got sick or not.

Well, they also had natural shape-shifting powers along with their fire ability... so Me'gan should be fine after she shifted her feet back to normal... right?

He heard chucking behind him. “Clumsy as always, I see. Some things never change!”

He smiled slightly, recognizing that voice. “Kara! You didn't tell me that you were going to be here.” He said, as he turned around to look at his cousin.

To his surprise, Kara was wearing her Sailor Venus outfit... with a few additions?

“What's with the shiny belt and the red mask? And the long orange cape?” Kal-El wondered. That kind of addition was definitely not standard fare for the Sailor Warriors of the Krypton Kingdom!

Kara rolled her eyes at her cousin's questions. “Come on, it's a costume party! You need cool touches to a costume... like flashy masks, caps and stuff like that!”

Kal-El couldn't even argue with that. So he just shrugged, and said along those lines: “That's just the other Sailor Warriors here decided to go with gowns for this evening instead of decking out their Sailor Uniforms. So I wondered why you weren't doing the same.”

Kara sighed. “That's because unlike them, I'm not here for pleasure. I'm supposed to be representing Venus and the great city of Kandor here... hence, the Sailor uniform.”

Kal-El couldn't help but make a face in sympathy. It was no doubt his uncle's doing. Jor-El and his brother Zor-El were total opposites in many ways, but the one thing they had in common was making their offspring's lives inconvenient as possible. Jor-El liked to believe that his son was still eight years old, and as an result didn't allow him to participate in a lot of things that peers his age did. Zor-El on the other hand, couldn't wait for Kara to take on all the responsibilities that was befitting the great house of El. Even if Kara was 8 years younger than Kal-El, and not quite ready for some of the responsibilities. Even Kara's mother had objected against Kara taking on the role of Sailor Venus so soon, citing that Kara should be allowed to have a fun childhood just a while longer.

It was kind of ironic when Kal thought of it... He couldn't wait to grow up, but was held back. Meanwhile, Kara just wanted to have fun without any responsibilities a while longer... yet a great responsibility had been thrust upon her shoulders.

“Hello?? Krypton to Kal-El! Anybody in there?” Kara waved her hands in front of Kal-El's face, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Oh, sorry!! What were you saying?” Kal-El smiled sheepishly at having been caught spacing out like that.

“I was saying that I heard that you found yourself a sweetheart on Earth...or so the rumor goes.” Kara repeated what she had said earlier. She then smiled mischievously, her blue eyes sparkling.

Oh-oh, he knew that look. That meant that if Kara could, she would go to insane lengths just to get Kal-El and his “sweetheart” together at all costs, no matter what. After all, he had personally witnessed it himself when she had offered that kind of “help” to other couples who couldn't physically be together for one reason or the other.

“NO!” Kal-El said just a little too loudly. “I don't have a sweetheart at all! You heard wrong... he's just a really good friend.... The best one I ever had, actually...”

“Oh? So I have competition vying for your friendship already after a few weeks apart... I have to say I'm utterly wounded that you would forget about me so soon!” A male voice said.

The cousins turned around to see Lex step out of the shadows, wearing a elegant tuxedo suit with a cape attracted to it. He took off his top hat to reveal his rose-red hair, and grinned.

Kal-El grinned like a sun coming out from behind dark clouds. “Lex!!”

He rushed over to pull Lex in a bear hug, which Lex happily returned. Kal-El sighed happily as he pulled back to look at Lex. “I was talking about you just then, actually. I can't believe you're here!”

Lex smirked. “I'm not the only one here... it seems that Mara-Kent and Jon-Kent was personally invited to this ball party too as well.. see, they're over there talking to your parents right now.”

With that he gestured in the aforementioned people's direction. Kal-El looked over, and sure enough the couple that Kal-El had came to think of as his “Earth family” was now amicably chatting with his parents.

“Oh Rao. I can't believe they're here too! I have to got to talk to them....” Kal-El practically bounced with excitement.

Kara was looking at the two of them curiously.

Lex mentally frowned. He had something really important to tell Kal, but it was such sensitive information... and he wasn't sure if he could trust Kara enough to say it in front of her. Even if She was Sailor Venus.

He smiled at Kal, pretending that nothing was wrong. “the Kents seem to be busy chatting... so why not dance with me? We can catch up while we dance.”

Kal-El started frowning. “Oh, you should ask somebody else to dance... I'm no good at it.”

Lex laughed, knowing very well that Kal-El was kind of clumsy... he had seen it with his own eyes back on earth. “Let me guess, you've got two left feet and will accidentally trod on people toes?”

Kal-El just nodded, looking glum.

“There's a trick to getting around it, you know. I can teach you a few steps that will make you look like you're a good dancer... even if you aren't.” Lex replied, getting Kal-El to look back up at him. “I don't mind teaching you the trick. So come on.” With that he reached out to Kal-El, waiting for the Kryptonian prince to take his hand.

Kal-El hesitated for a few seconds, but decided that he would put his trust in Lex. After all, Lex was always teaching him about things that he never knew before, but found useful in life. Anything that would stop him from looking like a massive klutz was always good information!

Lex smiled at him as Kal-El took his hand, and they were now off to the ballroom floor. “See, you have to move your feet like this....”

Kara grinned, and thought to herself: “Just best friends, huh? That may be true right now, but I sense that it could possibly grow into something more if allowed the chance...”

With that she ran off to gossip with Artemtis and Donna, who belonged to the rest of her Sailor Warrior Team.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kal-El had adapted to dancing well, thanks to Lex's lesson. 

He beamed at Lex. “I never thought I would be able to dance without stepping on anybody toes! That's what I like about you... you always help me find a way around my problems.”

Lex was now looking somber, as he thought about the problem he had.

Kal-El couldn't help but notice his expression. “Lex, what's wrong?”

Lex sighed. “The truth is... I didn't come here just to see you again. There's a huge problem brewing back home, and I feel that you and your parents have to be informed. You recall how I was supposed to be the fifth or sixth in line to the Earth Throne, alongside with my own father? Well.... it turns out that our relatives who were ahead of us died mysteriously over the course of the month, along with our ruling king and queen. My father and I now have a direct line to the Earth Throne itself.”

Kal-El gasped. Having relatives die on you were bad enough, but the way Lex said it. “Lex, are you implying that your father may have something to do with it?” He asked, knowing very well how obsessed Lex's father had been about becoming the ruler of earth. But he had never thought that Li Lu-Thor would go so far as to kill off his own relatives.

Lex nodded, and leaned closer as they danced together on the floor. “It's even worse than that. Master Zod's Astral form have been seen with my father on more than one occasion... and I overheard them talking about how to throw the Kryptonian Kingdom into chaos. Kal... I fear that my father made a deal with Zod in order to obtain what he desired the most. They both must be stopped!”

Kal-El suddenly felt cold at this horrible revelation. Master Zod was basically a Kryptonian ex-military terrorist, who weren't content with the way Empress Lara Lor-Van ran the kingdom. He apparently felt that they should become conquerors across the entire galaxy, instead of staying in their own corner of the galaxy.

Needless to say Zod had caused great suffering and trouble along with his dark cult across the entire Sol System, and it had taken the last generation of Sailor Warriors and Empress Lara herself in order to be able to banish Zod and his lot to the Phantom Zone. Zod's power had been so great, that the last Sailor Warriors actually had to sacrifice their very lives just to get him sealed up with his army. It was the very reason why the current batch of Sailor warriors were all untrained young girls, inducing Kara herself.

But there had been rumors that Zod himself was extremely powerful to be able to get around the Phantom Zone by projecting an astral version of himself to anybody that he choose to speak to. Kal-El hadn't wanted to believe it at all... but if what Lex was saying was true... then that rumor wasn't just idle gossip after all.

“Lex... we've got to tell my parents!” Kal-El cried out, and Lex simply nodded. Kal-El started off for the thrones where his parents were sitting, with Lex following right behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We've been looking into adoption now... We don't care if the child isn't biologically related to us, after all. We consider every child to be a true blessing.. isn’t that right, Jon?” Mara-Kent was saying, and her husband simply nodded.

Empress Lara smiled at this, and were about to say that she could help them out with the adoption, but they were rudely interrupted by her son.

Lex Lu-Thor followed right behind him, looking like he had just ran a marathon.

“What is the meaning of this? You know it's impolite to interrupt people in the middle of a conversation.” Jor-El asked.

“You don't understand, it's Zod! And Lu-Thor! Lex, tell them what you told me!” Kal-El yelled, now fully upset by this point.

“Calm down, my son. What is this about Zod?” Empress Lara frowned.

Lex stepped forward, and were about to tell her everything he had heard so far.... only to be interrupted by the blaring of alarms.

The lights all flashed red, meaning that the palace was now under attack.

Lex paled. “Oh no... It's too late to do anything... my father already went though with it...”

Jor-El stood up, glaring at Lex. “What did your father do?”

Lex looked like he was about to cry. “My traitorous father made a deal with Zod, and it would seem that he has cracked open the Phantom Zone to let Zod and his army though. I tried to get here and tell you before he was able to do it... but it looks like I was too late. I'm so sorry.”

The ground started shaking violently, and the walls started crumbling around them.

“We need to get to a safe place!” Jon-Kent said, and Empress Lara nodded in agreement.

The group of six then ran out to the ballroom. Jor-El had wanted to warn everyone else too, and to tell them where to take shelter. But it was too late.

The scene awaited them were total chaos. There was dark shadows flying all over the place, possessing people left and right. The possessed people were now brimming with dark negative energy, attacking their own friends and loved ones.

And the dark negative energy only served to increase the people's natural powers by a tenfold, so now it seemed like everyone could now shoot lasers out of their eyes and punch though solid steel!

Somebody was walking towards the group, and Lex growled when he saw who it was.

“Father! Stop this right now, please!” Lex pleaded, as Li Lu-Thor walked towards him.

Li had a glowing red aura around him, and his brown eyes were now glowing red. It all served to give him a sinister, demonic look. He chuckled as his own son pleaded with him to stop this madness.

“Oh, Lex... still soft as always I see. Why don't you listen and join me? You'll have no more use for those weaklings once I help Zod take over this empire. I'll finally be the ruler of earth, you see!” He replied, as he focused on making a large fireball in his hands.

“I'll never be a traitor like you, father! I'll stand with Kal-El and his family to the very end if need be.” Lex yelled back angrily.

“Very well, have it your way.” Li said, as he launched the fireball at the group.

Lara used this moment to use the power of the silver crystal that hung around her neck, to throw up a shield. The fireball struck the shield, and created a smoke screen effect as it exploded.

When the smoke cleared a few minutes later, the group was gone. Empress Lara had effectively used the smoke for them to get away!

Li chuckled. He couldn't believe that a lady like Empress Lara actually ruled the entire sol system... if all she did was tuck in her tail and run like the bitch she was.

And he knew where they were going anyway... they would be trapped once he got to them!

With that thought, Li Lu-Thor let out a loud evil laugh.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group now found themselves in a strange room... it seemed to be created out of white glowing crystals. The crystals jutted out everywhere, and served to give the shelter a truly beautiful, alien look.

Mara-Kent looked about the room with grim awe. She would had enjoyed coming here and seeing how beautiful this room was, if it wasn't for the current situation.

“This is my fortress room... from here I'll be able to monitor what's going on everywhere in the Sol system, and also call for backup during an emergency crisis.” Empress Lara Lor-Van explained, as she brought up the holographic monitors.

Dozens of displays popped up, every one of them showing what was happening all over the entire planet, and also elsewhere. In every one of them, people were fighting and being killed by Zod's growing army. There was also the earthquakes to contend with, as it seemed to be tearing up the entire planet!

Lex turned away, unable to bear seeing anymore. He felt responsible for this happening.... only if he had gotten here sooner somehow.

Kal-El then asked: “Is there any way that you can contact the other planets and ask them for assistance? I know that Planet Jupiter has the strongest military out of them all!”

Jor-El was at Lara's side, helping out with the monitors. “We are trying, my son. But there seems to be something wrong... it seems that our planet isn't the only one being attacked!”

With that, he brought up a display which showed that every planet was being attacked simultaneously somehow! The green and white martians were all being killed on their planet due to some dark twisted force sucking their planet dry of it's natural resources! and the same was happening to Jupiter!

There was strange swirling clouds and storms engulfing the green planet... almost as if it was being Terraformed! The group watched in horror as the lush rainforests of Jupiter got engulfed by those clouds, turning them into withered black husks. The tan-colored storm churned out dozens of tornadoes, corrosive rain, and lighting... seeming intent on destroying everything in it's path. As it reached the large metropolis cities of Jupiter, everything got torn apart very easily as if the buildings were cardboard.

In a matter of minutes, the entire green planet was transformed into a brown gas planet. Mars were now a dry dead planet, with very few survivors. The other planets were similarly affected too, all expect for Earth....which had remained untouched by Zod's dark power.

“My god... there was people living on those planets! I can't believe Zod is this powerful....” Mara-kent whimpered, unable to wrap her mind around the sheer monstrosity of it. Jon-Kent moved to hold her in his arms, trying to comfort her much as he could. Mara-Kent started sobbing, as she buried her face in the nook of his neck.

“That's right.... Zod is far more powerful than you cretins give him credit for! It's no use standing up against him... for he will always win in the end!” Li cackled wildly, as he walked into the room.

Before anybody could react, Li started blasting at everyone with his dark power. Mara-Kent went down first, as did Jor-El. Lex would had been hit to if it wasn't for Kal-El shielding him.

“Kal-El, no!” Lex wailed as he cradled Kal-El's dead body in his arms.

Jon-Kent was behaving similarly to Lex, as he was now holding the withered corpse of Mara-kent in his arms. He stared up at Li Lu-Thor with strong hatred in his eyes. He silently vowed that if he survived this he would forever hate the Lu-thor family, and seek vengeance upon them all for what they had done to his beloved Mara and everyone else.

Lara leaned against one of the crystal pillars, in shock over what had occurred. She couldn't believe that everyone dear to her had died like this... she couldn't accept it at all!

“Well, you've lost everything... so why don't you be a good woman and hand over the silver crystal? Zod needs it, you see.” Li said, as he walked over.

Lex and Jon-Kent was completely blind with both grief and fury at this time, and had moved to attack Li just as he started walking across the room towards Empress Lara.

Li sighed, and just blasted a few engery balls at his attackers. The engery balls exploded upon contact, sending both Lex and Jon-Kent flying.

Jon-kent died as he hit the floor.... his head making a loud, sickening noise as it cracked open.

Lex on the other hand, wasn't killed... just knocked unconscious. His red hair had been blasted clear off his head, leaving Lex bald. The singed hair now laid on the ground around his unconscious body, almost looking like rose petals.

This distraction gave Lara time to think quickly, and She realized that she couldn't hand over the silver crystal she had. It would spell doom for the entire galaxy if she was to do so. 

There was only one thing she could do... even if it meant that she would die doing so.

She held the silver crystal into the air, channeling all of her magical energy into it. The crystal fortress started glowing brightly too....

Li frowned. “What are you doing?? Come on, just give up already.”

But he couldn't see anymore as he was blinded by all the light.... and now he could feel something happening to his body. It felt so strange!

The planet Krypton itself started glowing brightly too, and it started sending out a bright pink light that grew outwards to engulf all of the planets in the entire sol system.

Zod was screaming with fury and fear, as he knew what Empress Lara was attempting to do. She couldn't possibly do that as a last resort! It meant that Krypton itself would be destroyed utterly, and Lara would die along with it!!

Zod cursed Lara with his last breath as he felt himself being banished back to the Phantom Zone yet again. The last thing he saw before he fell back into eternal sleep was a wormhole opening up where the planet Krypton should had been.

Empress Lara Lor-Van had opened up a wormhole though time and space, and now was sending everyone whose planet had died out though it in a form of suspended animation. She planned for them to be reborn throughout different time periods on Earth, since that was the only remaining planet that could sustain any life.

She just hoped that her reborn son would be happy and safe whenever and wherever he ended up. She blinked back tears at the thought that Kal-El would forget everything about this life...about what it was like to grow up here on Krypton... and about important people in his life.

She had a thought occur to her. Mara-Kent and Jon-Kent had been good people, and had cared for her son.... and they had wanted children so badly. Perhaps they would be suitable parents for Kal-El in their next reincarnation....

That was the final thought she had before her body was completely disintegrated by the silver crystal itself.

The silver crystal cracked, and somehow broke apart into gems with a rainbow of different colors. At the same moment, the planet itself exploded.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--Year 1989, in Smallville.---

Martha Kent was sobbing over a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

She couldn't believe it... another miscarriage. And right after they had told everyone else that they were 5 months along in her pregnancy. 

What was wrong with her that she couldn't carry a baby to full term? And now when everyone else in town finds out eventually, they were going to give her those pitying glances again. Ugh.

What was worse, the doctors had told her that if she miscarriages again she would become infertile and never be able to have children again. They had suggested that she and Jonathan look into adoption instead of trying every fertility treatment under the sun. They told her that doing that kind of thing would put a great strain on her body... and thus adoption would be healthier for her in the long run.

“Maybe I'm not meant to be a mom.” Martha though out loud, in a flat voice.

“Don't say that, honey! You will make a great mom!” Jonathan replied, as he walked back with another pot of coffee. He then sat down. “Well... maybe we should take that doctor's advice, eh? Adoption isn't so bad.... There's more to family than biological ties, after all!”

Martha didn't say anything, but she nodded to let Jonathan that she was listening to him. 

It was then that strange rumbling noise started up outside.

“What the heck is that noise?” Jonathan frowned, as he got up to check.

Martha got up too, and followed Jonathan outside.  
It had been bright and sunny just a moment ago, but now there was those strange green clouds forming head-over, and the rumbling was getting louder.

“I have a bad feeling about this....” Martha told Jonathan. Jonathan pulled her into a half embrace, as he responded, “Me too.”

They both stared up at the sky.. it was then that the meteors started raining down on the entire town of Smallville and the Kent Farm.

It was all they could do to reach the cellar under the barn as the large meteor shards rained down around them! One of them had taken out that tractor, and their truck.... which had gone up in a specular fireball.

Once inside the shelter, they had huddled together in a corner, not knowing what was going to happen next.

What happened next though, was a total shock for the couple. A white glowing ball of light had broke though the cellar doors and hovered towards them.

Jonathan instinctively moved so that he was shielding Martha from whatever it was.

To his surprise, the ball of light morphed into a beautiful woman wearing some sort of strange white costume. An aura of light still surrounded her as she walked towards the Kent couple.

“Please...” the beautiful woman said, in a pleading tone as tears fell from her eyes.

She keeled in front of Martha and Jonathan. “He is my only son, and he will be your son too. Please take care of him, and ensure that he leads a happy life.”

“What...?” Jonathan was fully confused at this point.

Suddenly, a beam of light shot from the strange woman's hands and right into Martha's stomach! In a flash of light, the woman was gone.

“Martha!! are you alright??” Jonathan cried out as he moved to check Martha over for any injures.

“I'm fine, Jonathan... she didn't do anything... I think. My stomach feels strange though...” Martha frowned, as she held her stomach. She could feel something moving under there... almost like a baby kicking.

But no, that had to be a cruel trick of the mind considering how much she suffered this year.

An hour later, her stomach suddenly swelled up to resemble that of a woman who had been pregnant for 9 months. Martha then went into labor.

The Kents were able to get to the hospital somehow against all odds, and another 2 hours later Clark Jermone Kent was born into the world.

To say that both the Kents and the doctors were utterly surprised by this turn of events were a understatement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	2. A talking dog appears...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Snice this was an AU fusion of two different universes, I decided to alter some things big time.
> 
> For example, Lex Luthor is no longer an adult--He's now just a year older than Clark is, and goes to Smallville high. I've always had a weakness for the idea of Lex being roughly the same age as Clark, and being able to go to the same school as him. unfortunately, there's not many fanfics of that out there... so I decided to make this one of the few where he goes to school with Clark.
> 
> And I had it be talking dogs instead of cats... well, what can I say, I'm a dog person. *shrugs*
> 
> one more thing... if you want to see some cool fanart, just look at my notes at the end of the chapter when you're done reading! :)

\--Years later--

“Clark, you're going to be late for school... again!” Martha yelled.

There was a red-blue blur around the kitchen, as Clark moved at super speed to grab his schoolwork AND breakfast. He then blurred out the door.

Martha sighed, shaking her head. She didn't know how her son could have super-speed AND still be late for school everyday. For a brief moment she thought back to the day that she had given birth to Clark.

Martha was fully convinced by now that the strange woman that she and her husband saw had been an angel sent to give them a child, just like they had been praying for. She hadn't expected for her baby boy to start exhibiting powers years later, though.

Jonathan had then suggested that maybe the glowing woman had been an alien who had impregnated Martha for some mysterious reason, and that Clark was actually an alien himself too. Jonathan thought this would explain the powers he had.

Martha however thought this to be the most ridiculous thing that she had ever heard of. Besides, by the time Clark exhibited unusual powers there had been reports of strange activity in Smallville... reports of adults suddenly gaining powers after the meteor shower.

So she had this theory that Clark had really meant to be a normal child, but that like some other people he had been mutated by the meteors. Jonathan scoffed at this theory, saying the mutations people had in town was due to chemical waste from the Luthor's manure factory.

But of course Jonathan liked to believe that...for some reason he got a thrill out of blaming every bad thing on the Luthor family. Martha couldn't understand why Jonathan hated the Luthors so much.  
The Luthor family had came to town just shortly after the meteor shower, and had helped out the town after the meteors had destroyed almost everything. They had spent some of their family fortune to rebuild the town, and now owned half of the buildings in town as well as the factory that supplied jobs for half of the townspeople.

Yet that didn't really do anything to impress Jonathan. For the moment Jonathan Kent laid eyes on Lionel Luthor, he hated the billionaire and wanted nothing to do with him at all.  
“I don't know what it is about him,” Jonathan had said, “He just rubs me the wrong way.”

Martha and Jonthan didn't exactly agree on that, just like they couldn't agree about where Clark's powers had came from. But the important things they could agree on...

Like the fact that giving birth to Clark had been a true miracle, and that they had to do their best to help Clark seem normal as possible so that nobody would exploit his powers.

Martha shook her head, clearing her head of those distracting thoughts so that she could get to work on making some pies for the Talon.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And... he arrives at last! What is it, the 10th time he's been late this month?” Chloe snickered as Clark rushed into the classroom and then tripped over nothing. Clark crashed to the floor, and everyone in the class laughed.

The teacher was used to Clark's antics, and just rolled his eyes. He then told Clark to quit making a scene, and go sit at his desk.

His face was burning hot by this point, and he just simply nodded. He trudged over to his desk, and plopped himself down. “Why am I always so late every time? Just once I'd be like to be on time.” he couldn't help but whine.

“Maybe if you actually got up early instead of always sleeping in?” Lex Luthor suggested.

Clark looked up at one of his best friends, and shook his head. “No way, I love sleep way too much... I think they should make the school start later in the day instead of it starting in the morning.”

Lex couldn't help but smirk at that. “If they did, you'd just sleep until noon and still be late anyway.”

Clark blew a raspberry at this, but he had to admit that Lex was right.

For his 15 years on this earth ever since his birth, he had always been a little bit of a dork. He was clumsy at times, loved food to the point of gluttony and slept as much as he could. It was a true miracle that he actually had friends like Lex Luthor and Pete Ross.

Pete Ross was a cool dark-skinned boy who played on the football team, and also occasionally wrote sports article for the school newspaper called The Torch. Clark and Pete Ross had always played together ever since they were in preschool. Pete had talked Clark into trying out for the football team too, but Clark was simply too clumsy to play that well. Plus, Clark's father was totally against him playing anyway due to the fact that Clark had those.... strange powers.

Lex Luthor, his other best friend, came from what was basically the town's only billionaire family around here. Seriously, it was like the Luthors were royalty around here. Yet, Lex had never really let that get to his head and basically acted like any other 16-year-old kid around here. Well, almost.  
There was the fact that he was a total genius with machines and stuff like that. He even looked the part with his naturally bald head, which served to make him appear even more older than he really was, and thus seeming wiser than everyone else. Everyone voted him most likely to become a mad scientist on that alone, which amused Lex to no end.

Apparently Lex's mom had cancer a while back then and had gone under chemo not knowing she was pregnant... and somehow that affected Lex's ability to grow hair on his head? Clark couldn't see how that was possible, but this was Smallville... strange things happened around here all the time.

Speaking of which... Chloe Sullivan had asked to see him after school about something. Most likely she wanted him to investigate yet another weird occurrence in Smallville again. Chloe was in charge of the school newspaper, so one could say that Clark, Pete Ross and Lex all worked for her.

Lex mainly did the technical and science segments of the newspaper while Clark wrote articles about the school's social activities and the lunch menus. You know, normal boring stuff.

But once in a while, Chloe would call the guys together and drag them on what Pete often referred to as a “Scooby Doo adventure”. Which when you thought about it, it really was.

They basically would hear about those rumors, like glowing giant mutant pigs and some mysterious disappearances in the area. Then they would ride around in one of Lex's expensive cars to the places where the bizarre events was apparently taking place. While they investigated the area, they all would get into some wacky hijinks which often led them to the source of the bizarre phenomenon. It usually involved a lot of meteor rocks, which totally sucked. But in the end they'd capture whoever or whatever was endangering the lives of everyone around them, and then life in Smallville would go back to “normal” for a short while.

“Clark! Earth to Clark!” The teacher called out.

“Huh??” Clark was snapped out of his thoughts.

There was quiet snickering around him, and Clark blushed. He had been caught daydreaming during class again. How mortifying!

The teacher seemed to get some pleasure out of making Clark stand up and recite the things in his school book. Clark mentally sighed. Sometimes, he really hated school.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--Later on at the Torch--

“You wanted to talk to me about something?” Clark asked of Chloe as he moved to sit at his usual desk in the room.

Pete was at one of the computers, typing up an article about an upcoming football game and the sponsored school party afterward.

Chloe bounced in her seat, and she asked: “Have you ever heard of Sailor V?”

“Is that some kind of code for the navy fleet?” Clark wondered, honestly having no clue at all.

“It turns out that Smallville isn't the only place where weird shit occurs. Apparently there was some bizarre events going on in London, England. People would act erratically for no good reason and then mysteriously disappear. But then those missing cases would be resolved, thanks to some girl. Apparently this girl fancies herself to be some kind of superhero, and they've started calling her Sailor V because of the Sailor uniform she wears and the victory sign that she often flashes for the cameras.”

Chloe explained it all, barely pausing to take a breath at all. She then held up some color photos of a blonde girl.

The mysterious blonde was wearing some kind of Sailor uniform, one with a very short orange skirt. On top of her uniform, she had a orange sailor collar thing that was tied off with a navy blue bow. She wore a red bow in her hair, and had a red mask on. Under her Sailor suit, she was wearing red sheer tights and had orange Mary janes on her feet. She honestly didn't look like a typical superhero like the ones you saw in comic books. Just a young girl who were playing dress up.

Clark scoffed. “Well, it's nice to know that Smallville isn't the only place where strange things occur.... I guess. So, is that all you wanted to tell me?”

Chloe was totally disappointed in Clark's reaction. “Oh come on, don't you think it's kind of interesting?”

Clark shrugged. “It's not like we can do anything about that. For one thing, it's not like we're going to fly halfway across the world to try to meet her.”

Chloe seemed to love that idea, if the look on her face was anything to go by.

Clark shook his head. “Uh-oh. No way. We can't afford it.”

Chloe grinned. “We could ask Lex to help us out. All those cars the Luthor family has, and they also have their own personal jets...”

Pete burst out laughing, having been listening to this entire conversation going on. He then turned around. “Yeah, as if our parents would actually let us travel unattended on our own halfway the world! And no offense to Lex Luthor, but his father is such a tightwad...he would actually charge us for the cost of the fuel needed to fly. You know he would do something like that!”

“Who would do what?” Lex asked, as he walked into the room.

Pete then explained what had been going on, and Lex chuckled

. “As much as I hate to agree with Pete, I have to admit he's right. The only reason why dad even lets me use his cars for our outings, is because I actually pay for the gas with my own allowance from mom. He totally refuses to agree to anything I do if it will cost him money. You remember when the red Ferrari got totaled by that bull who somehow mutated into a walking Minotaur?”

Both Clark and Pete nodded solemnly. They had loved that car, and it actually had pained them to see it destroyed by one of Smallville's oddities.

“Well, I actually had to give my father money...so that he could go get himself another one.” Lex told them as he rolled his eyes at the memory.

“But isn't your dad a billionaire? He can afford another one on his own without your help.” Chloe looked puzzled.

Lex grinned. “How do you think my dad got so rich? He makes it a point to never use his own money if he can.”

Chloe shook her head in dismay. She couldn't imagine somebody so rich being that much of a cheap-skate! She frowned when she realized she had forgotten something...

“Oh yeah!! I almost forgot... there's been another event here in Smallville. You know that jewelry store ran by Whitney’s mother? It seems that people who recently shopped there collapsed... they had to be rushed to the hospital. Put simply, the people claim that they feel like they just lost most of their energy and passed out... and that it didn't start until they started wearing the jewelry made by Whitney's mom. But they looked at the jewelry, and they claim that there's nothing unusual about it... so they're looking into carbon dioxide poisoning as a likely culprit.”

Pete groaned. “Oh man, not another scooby doo adventure. Haven't we had enough of those already? I hate running into those monsters and crap like that.”

Lex smirked at Pete's reaction. “You grumble about that all the time, yet you keep on coming along with us... why is that?”

Pete just made a face at Lex in response, which made Lex crack up.

Clark sighed. Lex and Pete sometimes seemed to pick fights with each other for no good reason, even though they were all friends. He then looked at Chloe. “Well... my mom's birthday is coming up soon. So I guess buying her a gift from the jewelry store wouldn't be so bad... right?”

Chloe bounced slightly in her seat, grinning back at Clark. “Right! And we have to come along with you to make sure you get her the right gift!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as school was done for the day, the group headed for the Fordman's jewelry store on main street.

Lex opted not to drive one of his cars this time, saying that the store was close by anyway. So they all walked on foot and chatted about various topics to pass the time on the way there.

It was that Clark noticed something strange . He pointed to one of the narrow alleyways in the back between the buildings “Hey. Isn't that a dog over there?”

His friends stopped to look, and sure enough there was a white dog whose back hind leg was snared by a bit of wire. It was a really high wire fence too, so the poor dog was left hanging upside down.

“Oh no... poor thing.” Chloe made a sad face. “It's not moving... do you think it's dead?”

“Looks like it tried to jump over the fence but got his leg snared by the wire.” Lex observed, as he mentally analyzed how the dog could have gotten itself into that predicament.

“Come on, let's set it free.” Pete replied, as he moved towards it. The others agreed.

The white dog was bigger up close, and it had a black diamond-shaped mark on it's forehead. It whined softly when it saw humans coming it's way, and gave the kids the saddest puppy dog expression that they had ever seen.

“Oh, good.. it appears to be unharmed.” Clark remarked, as he moved to check on the snared leg. “There's no sign of any bleeding... so he should be fine once we get him down.”

He pried the wire apart, while Lex and Pete held the dog. Once the leg was free, they gently lowered the dog into the ground.

The dog made an happy noise once his paws touched ground. It let out a loud sigh, and actually started speaking as it stretched. “Thanks for the help. I was starting to think that I would be stuck up there forever!”

Clark and Lex both looked around. They thought that maybe somebody else in the area had said that, and were trying to play a joke on them or something like that. But nobody else were around.

Chloe and Pete on the other hand, were now staring at the dog with wide eyes. They were trying to mentally process the fact that they had just saved a TALKING DOG! They had seen plenty of strange stuff in Smallville, but this had to be the weirdest thing so far.

The white dog continued to speak.“My name is Krypto, and I could sure use your help with something else. After all, you've been helpful to me so far.”

Chloe quickly got over her shock, and asked: “What is it that you need help with...?”

The dog wagged his tail a little bit, as he answered: “I'm looking for a lost prince, and the four guardians who are supposed to protect him from the monsters of the Phantom Zone.”

The perky blonde couldn't help but raise her eyebrows at that. This was starting to sound like some sort of fairytale quest where you needed to rescue a prince. “Umm... I don't know if I can help you with that. I mean, the closest thing we have to a prince in Smallville is Lex Luthor here.”

With that she pointed at Lex.

Krypto's ears perked up at this. He then walked over to Lex, and looked over the bald teenager with a critical eye. He then sniffed, learning more about Lex by his scent. Once Krypto's through examination was done, he then spoke. “Lex is not the prince that I seek. However, his aura feels very familiar to me somehow. He may play a big part in finding the prince... as you all do too.”

This was just too weird even for Clark. He wasn't supposed to do anything that would make him stand out from the rest... and participating in a mission to save a missing prince, was definitely one of those things. If a real prince was found here in Smallville, there was bound to be a media frenzy...  
“Um... weren't we supposed to investigate Fordman's store? And get a gift for my mom's birthday?” Clark wondered, desperate for a distraction from this.

Lex smirked, knowing very well what Clark was thinking at the moment. “I hate to break it to you, Clark... but I think Chloe might find this talking dog to be infinitely far more interesting than anything going on at that jewelry store. I have to admit that I find it very difficult to even think about anything else at a time like this too. After all, we may have our very first sentient talking animal... the scientific possibilities are endless!”

Pete scoffed. “You're such a nerd, Lex. We could take this dog on talk shows instead... just think, we could be famous! Who cares about science, anyway?”

The two boys started bickering over what to do with the talking dog, and Clark just sighed. It looked as if he wasn't getting out of this one after all.

Krypto stared at all the boys with what seemed to be a frown on his face. “You spoke of a suspicious store just now. I don't think you should be going there at all.... I detected some very strong negative energy coming from there.”

Chloe perked up at this. So this talking dog and the suspicious jewelry store were all connected somehow? This day was getting better and better!

“What kind of negative energy are you talking about? Maybe the kind that makes people collapse and be rushed to the hospital?” Chloe asked, as she whipped out her notepad to write on.

Krypto gasped when Chloe made the offhand comment about people mysteriously collasping. “The Zoners have already started moving about here? Oh no, this is bad!”

The white dog then started rushing off towards the direction of the store. The group had no choice but to run after the dog, and almost all of them were now panting wildly once they reached the store. Clark was the only one who weren't panting and or sweating, but nobody noticed as they were too busy watching what the dog would do next.

Krypto was sniffing around the store, and then he turned around to face the kids. As seeing they were in a highly public place now, the dog moved closer to Clark and whispered: “One of the evil creatures from the Phantom zone is here... I can smell it.”

Krypto then looked at each one of them. “I'm sorry, but it looks like it may be too dangerous to call on you for help after all. I may have to take on this monster by myself.”

Chloe shook her head. “No way, you're not going in there alone! Besides, who do you think you're speaking to, anyway? If you had been around longer, you'd know this is the sort of thing we live for!”

“Speak for yourself.” Pete muttered. Chloe elbowed him for that comment.

Clark sighed. “I hate to say it, but Chloe's right. We've been investigating strange occurrences like this for years now... we're pretty much used to rooting out meteor mutant activity and trapping them once we catch them in the act. So of course we can't just leave a dog like you alone with somebody who might harm you....”

Krypto's eyes widened at this. “Really? Then it must had been fate at work when we met each other... it seems that you're the kind of people I've been looking for this entire time.”

Lex looked around, to make sure that nobody else could overhear this conversation. “Um, as much as I find this conversation utterly fascinating, could we go somewhere else where we won't be overheard? I don't think we need to draw attention to ourselves right now.”

Clark nodded at Lex's words. “Right! There's an entrance behind the Jewelry store. We could talk back there, and plan on what to do if we encounter anything strange.” 

So with that, the group moved behind the building, away from prying eyes and ears.

Chloe then started pulling things out of her backpack. Things like cameras, rope, etc.

“What are you doing?” Krypto wondered.

“I'm laying out the tools of the trade for this job. We need to document what's going on, and have a kit for trapping any strange creatures around here.” Chloe answered, as she handed the ropes to Lex.

Krypto looked troubled again. “Oh no, this won't do... you can't capture members of the Phantom Zone with such weak items.” he brightened up though, when he thought of something. “Lucky for you, I have something that may help!”

His black diamond-shaped mark started glowing, and with a flash of light four items laid at the teenagers' feet.

There was three wand-like items roughly the size of a Crayola marker, and a diamond-shaped brooch that had an engraved “S” shape in the center. The wands themselves were all different colors, with zodiac-like symbols on top.

Pete reached for the red one depicting an male symbol on top of it, while Chloe picked up the blue one. Clark seemed drawn towards the brooch-like object for some reason, so he choose that one. That only left the remaining green wand with the sign of Jupiter for Lex.

“So... what does those things do?” Chloe wondered.

The dog smiled. “If you ever find yourself in a tight spot, just hold those objects and focus on the will to transform. The words will come to you, and the wands then will empower you in order to help you fight any monsters that come your way.”

The teenagers looked at each other, not sure if they should believe the dog or not. But they kept the objects anyway, as they walked into the store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The monster disguised as Mrs. Fordman grinned evilly. Life outside the Phantom Zone was so good, even if she had to work under that nitwit who summoned her to this plane of existence.

She had been assigned the task of collecting energy in order to feed Master Zod, so that he would awaken once more again and create a new glorious new order on Earth.

She couldn't help but feel impatient though... it was getting harder for her to continue pretending that she was just a repulsive human being. Honestly, those human creatures were so disgusting... the only thing they were good for was being a energy source for Master Zod.

“Mom? Don't you think it's time to close up the shop? We're supposed to have time off on Fridays, after all.” Whitney asked.

It took her a second to realize that this teenage boy was talking to her. Jeez, she had forgotten for a second about her role as Mrs.Fordman! She reminded herself to never slip up like that again.

She smiled sweetly at her “son”. 

“Oh alright... it's not like we have any more customers coming in today anyway.”

Whitney shot his mother a strange look, but went ahead and flipped the sign to “closed” anyway. He locked the front door while he was at it too.

He then looked back at his mom soon as her back was turned. He couldn't help but wonder why his mom was acting so distant and strange all of a sudden.

Maybe it had to do with his father being sick? Such a situation could affect people in weird ways, after all. But still.... it still kind of hurt to have his own mother act like they were total strangers.

The imposter moved towards the back room in order to check that everything was locked up properly. It was then she heard something moving down in the basement. She frowned to herself. 

No way, the real Mrs. Fordman was awake? That was impossible... she had made sure to dose her full of sleeping potion to keep her asleep for a whole week.

Hmm, it could be just a rat or something... but she still needed to make sure it was that and nothing more. Just in case.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark and the others were now snooping around in the basement for any signs of anything suspicious.

“Haven't found anything yet. I think what we're looking for may be upstairs after all.” Lex told the others.

Just then Clark stumbled across an unconscious body in his area of the basement. “Guys, over here!”

The group crowded around the unconscious person, as Clark flipped the body around so that she was facing upwards. It turned out to be Mrs. Fordman, looking as though she was asleep.

“She's been affected by the dark energy too just like the others, it seems.” Krypto remarked, as she poked at Mrs.Fordman with his nose.

“What is the meaning of this intrusion?” A menacing female voice boomed out behind the group.

Everyone spun around to come face to face with.... Mrs. Fordman.

“Why are there two of them?” Pete wondered out-loud.

“This imposter must have knocked out the real Mrs.Fordman and left her down here in order to pose as her for some reason!” Chloe deducted instantly.

The imposter cracked her neck, as she spoke. “How clever of you. But I'm afraid that all of you must die now...”

With that final statement, she started transforming into her real hideous form...which appeared to be some kind of demonic zombie woman with insanely long arms.

“Oh man! That's so nasty!” Pete exclaimed as the imposter transformed.

Lex instantly pulled out his taser and put it to work... but it had no real effect on the imposter as she just swatted it away.

“I told you that ordinary objects won't work on monsters like her! You have to use the items I gave you all...” Krypto told everyone.

Chloe nodded, and held out her blue wand. “Okay, here I go then.”  
She closed her eyes, focusing on the will to transform... even if she didn't know what the heck it meant to do that. All of a sudden she found herself saying, “Mercury Power, Transform!”  
She quickly opened her eyes to find that there was sparkly blue ribbons of water swirling around her, and in a flash of light she was now wearing something different entirely.

She was wearing a blue sailor uniform complete with gloves, blue sheer tights and boots. There was also a blue visor acting like a mask for her face. 

Lex closed his eyes and did his best to focus. But he opened them again when nothing happened. “Mine isn't working!” he said.

Clark and Pete followed Chloe's example seconds later, and in a flash of light the two of them were fully transformed too as well.

Before they could react to their new look, the monster attacked.

Her huge claws slashed at them, drawing blood from Pete and Lex. They cried out, stepping backwards away from her. She super-sped around the room to attack Clark too, but her sharp fingernails snapped off when she clawed at Clark's skin.

The monster howled in pain as she held her hand with the broken fingernails. “This is impossible! They're strong as steel... they shouldn't have broken at all!” she roared.

“Strike now while she's distracted! Focus on bringing out your magical attack!” Krypto instructed the newly awakened Sailor Warriors.

“Mercury... bubble...blast!” Chloe cried out. The room filled up with fog and bubbles.

“Mars fire soul!” Fire shot out from Pete's fingertips.

“Krypton tiara action!” Clark threw some kind of glowing disc at the monster.

Within seconds, the monster was reduced to nothing but dust.

“Wow, that was amazing. “ Lex commented, as he held his arm which had been badly wounded from the monster's attack. He then looked at the dog. “I think you gave me a defective wand. I couldn't transform with this thing no matter how hard I tried.”

“Really? Odd, it should had worked...” The dog cocked his head to the side, as he looked up at Lex.

“Umm... what is with this outfit? It's so embarrassing!” Clark cried out, once he realized what it was that he was wearing. He was wearing a type of Sailor suit, alright.. but one without the bows that Chloe had. Clark was wearing those tight blue shorts instead of a skirt over his white leotard. There was a big diamond-shaped S shield on his chest in place of bows, and his Sailor collar hung long on him like a type of cape. And to top off the bizarre sailor uniform, he was wearing a tiara on his forehead and bright red boots that went up past his knees!

Chloe couldn't help but laugh. “My god! You look like a gay male escort dressed up as a navy man! Well, kind of. What the fuck is with those boots??”

“Um guys...” a odd female voice said, “What the fuck happened to me?! I... have....boobs!”

Both Clark and Chloe turned around to look at Pete, who apparently had transformed himself into a very beautiful dark-skinned woman. He (she?) was wearing a outfit just like Chloe's, but in red and purple. Instead of boots though, he was wearing red heels that helped define his long feminine legs.  
To top it off, he had long flowing hair that reached all the way down to his butt!

Once it registered in Chloe's brain that Pete was now a woman, she couldn't help herself. She started laughing hysterically.

Pete started tearing up. “It's not funny! What if I can't change back?”

Krypto blinked at this. He mused out loud. “Odd... I wouldn't had thought it would change him like that. Oh, I see. The last person who owned that wand was a female... so it must had been calibrated specifically for her. That might be the reason why Pete transformed into a woman...”

“Enough with the theories. Can they change back or not?” Lex asked, once he noticed that Pete was at his breaking point.

Krypto nodded. “It's quite easy. All they have to do is focus on changing back, just like they do when they transform into Sailor warriors!”

There was a red flash of light, and Pete let out a sigh of relief once he made sure that everything was back the way they should be.

“Man, I'm never doing that again.” He grumbled.

Two flashes of lights later, Chloe and Clark was back in their normal attire again.

“I don't know... I thought you made for a very cute woman!” Chloe teased Pete.

“What's going on down there?” Whitney's voice called down, and footsteps could be heard walking downstairs.

Clark's eyes widened. “Oh crap, Mrs. Fordman! I can't believe we forgot about her!”

Chloe called back, “Down here! Your mom passed out on the floor... call 911!”

Whitney ran downside upon hearing this, and found the staff of The Torch newspaper lifting the body of Mrs. Fordman off the ground.

“What the heck happened, Clark?” Whitney asked, as he rushed over to his mom's side.

“Um... well... er...” Clark stammered.

“We were investigating the mysterious illness that made all of your customers pass out, when we found her down here.” Lex answered smoothly.

Whitney nodded. This did make sense... they were known to snoop around like this, after all. but if this happened down here...

“Oh no, this building might have carbon moxide! That's what the officers were looking into when they came by here earlier. We've got to get her out of here and call the authorities.” He told the group.

“Right!” Pete replied. With that, everyone helped carry the unconscious woman upstairs and then outside of the building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tuxdeo Lex: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/SailorAurora/My%20art/LexTuxedo_zps587f03fb.png  
>  (may have gone overboard on the rose motif?)  
> Clark, being embarrassed by his version of the Sailor moon outfit: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/SailorAurora/My%20art/MaleSailorKryton_zps9cae0c49.png  
>  The rest of the Sailor Warriors, see if you can guess who is who:  
>  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/SailorAurora/My%20art/SmallvilleSailorWarriors_zps85057a9c.png


	3. Krypto's musings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much Sailor Warrior activity in this story... just mostly setting up things to happen in the next chapter. We get Krypto's thoughts on why he did the things he did.
> 
> As you probably could tell from the fan-art I posted in the last chapter, I was planning on making Lana into Sailor Jupiter. But there's just a little problem. I really, really, really HATE Lana Lang on that Smallville TV show. So it's going to be a real challenge for me to actually attempt turning Lana into somebody likable. Also, Lana's personality on the TV show doesn't exactly make her "Sailor Jupiter" material.
> 
> I thought about this for a few, and that's when I suddenly had this inspiration. What if Aunt Nell Potter was actually the one who were traumatized by the meteors instead of Lana? What if she was the one who were utterly obsessed with vicariously living her life though Lana? So as an result, She basically controls everything about Lana... from the pink outfits to who she dates. Basically just my attempt to turn Lana into an sympathetic character. Let's see if it works.

Krypto the dog was now bring up a holographic display from his hidden collar, and writing his report for both Jor-El and Kandora. As he wrote his report, his thoughts wandered back to the moment when he had been awakened.

It seems that Jor-El's soul had been sealed up in a bunch of crystals and sent to earth by Empress Lara before she died. It seems that she hoped that he would be able to guide their reborn son if he ever needed that from his biological father.

However, Jor-El's consciousness hadn't been fully awakened until the fortress detected some phantom activity and deducted that it may be a danger to both the reborn prince and the earth itself. It was then that Jor-el woke up the dogs from their stasis chambers, and had explained the whole situation to them.

Personally, Krypto wasn't sure if it was really Jor-El speaking to them... this version of Jor-El had seemed so cold and distant compared to the one he knew way back in the silver millennium. Jor-El had a good sense of humor, was highly compassionate and always knew how to give a good belly rub. So to wake up one day and find out that person had turned into a freezing crystal fortress... it was a little bit off-putting to be honest.

Kandora had scolded him when he told her about his concerns regarding Jor-El. She had told him to try putting himself in Jor-El's shoes. How would Krypto feel, if he had woke up one day without a body of his own, and had discovered that everything and almost everyone he loved was now gone? And on top of it, He had to go find his own son... who may not even remember who he was.

Kandora felt that Jor-El wasn't given any chance to come terms with that sort of thing, and were still grieving in his own way. It was perfectly logical to her that Jor-El would be so cold and distant right now.

It wasn't as if Krypto had any real proof that this Jor-El wasn't the real one.... due to the fact that he was still suffering from “Swiss cheese brain” syndrome, where there was massive gaps of his memory missing... a side effect of being in suspended animation for over 30,000 years.

Seriously, he couldn't get over the fact that he had been in suspended animation for THAT long.... that had to be some kind of record! Maybe after all of this was over, he could get that put into the Guinness book of records...? It'd be nice to be recognized for that kind of achievement, after all.

Hm? What had he been about to do? Oh right, the report.

The plan had been for them to find the four guardians of the Prince first, so that the prince would have total protection when he had to take on the Phantom Zoners and save the world.

Krypto noted that they had all the transformation devices needed to make anybody into a Sailor Warrior... and had suggested that they find some random humans that they could trust and turn them into the new guardians for the prince. This seemed the most effective and the fastest way to come up with protection for the Prince.

However, Both Jor-El and Kandora had fully disagreed. He wasn't surprised that they disagreed, they had always been a little bit old fashioned, after all. It had always been traditional for the Sailor Warrior role to be handed down to relatives from previous generations, or for it to be given to Royal family members that resided on every planet.

So they both felt that it was highly imperative that they find all the previous members OR anybody related to them.

Krypto felt this kind of logic was flawed to start with. For one thing, Empress Lara hadn't made it so that everyone from the Silver Millennium was reborn at the same time all at once. Otherwise, the earth wouldn't be able to sustain the sudden population boom which would no doubt lead to massive overcrowding.

So it was entirely possible for the Amazonian people who lived on Planet Jupiter, for example, to be reincarnated in different time periods though history. It was possible that Donna and her cousin Princess Diana were now grandmothers surrounded by loving grandchildren. 

Then there was Planet Mars... they had read reports that indicated that the entire Martian population was extinct now, or at least supposedly. There was the possibility that they had gone into hiding out of a survival instinct. So what the heck were they supposed to do for Sailor Mars? Clearly, somebody new would need to fill that role.

So it was all complicated, really. It would be insanely difficult to find all of them, and it could take a whole decade... and they couldn't afford to waste time. If the reports were correct, The Phantom Zoners were moving fast in their plans to break free and conquer everything in their path.

The tragedy that occurred last time couldn't be allowed to happen again!

At least they were able to pinpoint where the last surviving members of Kryptonian royalty was living. One was living in a Kansas town called Smallville, and the other one was living all the way across the world on a little island called England, in a city called London.

Kandora was worried over the fact that the two were living so far apart, and wondered how the heck that had happened. Krypto pointed out that maybe there was a good reason for this... maybe it actually made both of them safer that way. After all, if both were living together in the same place it just made for a even bigger target. At this way the enemy's attention could be divided up.

Kandora had to concede that point, but felt that one of them should go to the one in London, just in case. It turns out that she would go there, while Krypto went to Smallville.

It was by sheer luck that Clark had actually found him first instead of the way around.

At first Krypto hadn't recognized Clark at all. Kal-El had been reborn with different coloring on his person. He had eyes that shifted between green and blue depending on the lighting. There was also that messy dark brown hair! 

In the past, Kal-El had perfectly coiffured black hair with just a single curl hanging out in front, and had eyes that consistently stayed blue. It was really amazing what a difference hair and eye colors made in making somebody seem like a completely different person.

Clark and Kal-El had the same exact body type, though. The personality remained the same as ever, despite the fact that he had been reborn into a life that was entirely different from his old one. Krypto had picked up on that part, and thought that Clark smelled and acted so familiar to him that he couldn't help but wonder if the prince was actually standing in front of him.

His suspicions grew stronger when Clark seemed drawn to the brooch that had been intended for the prince. It was finally confirmed in his mind that Clark was really Kal-El, when Clark transformed into Sailor Krypton. In his Sailor form, he looked exactly like his former self from the Silver Millennium... well, expect for the clothing. It wasn't the sort of thing that Prince Kal-El normally wore.

And he couldn't help but secretly agree with Clark that the male version of the sailor uniform was....”out there”. Whoever designed the look for the male Sailor Warriors clearly had no idea what pants were, or strongly preferred tight shorts as an male alternative to short skirts. It was no wonder why there was more female sailor warriors than there were males... the females always looked good, whereas the men just looked utterly ridiculous by comparison. Not many men would sign up for that.

They'd go for the more manly alternatives, like undergo knight training or becoming guards instead if they really wanted to go out there and save lives.

But back to the topic of Clark being the prince...

There was also the fact that Clark clearly had Kryptonian abilities even without transforming, which made it perfectly clear that it wasn't just the transformation brooch making Clark look like the prince.

Krypto had been debating with himself on whenever he should tell Clark that he was the prince, or keep it to himself. 

On one hand, alerting Clark early would fully prepare him for what was to come.  
But on the other hand, the Phantom Zoners might be looking for him too. and having Clark suddenly act like he was the prince might draw their unwanted attention before Clark was even ready to handle it at all. Clark needed training before he was able to take on the Zoners and save the world.

Krypto decided to keep it to himself for now, as he wasn't still sure that he could trust the other people that he had recruited.

The girl and the two teenage boys seemed awfully nice, but he needed to test how loyal they were to Clark before telling them anything else.

However, they did seem like a highly logical choice to become the new guardians. After all, they were already close to Clark, and were able to hang out with him at all times without it becoming inconvenient or having it stand out. Krypto sincerely hoped that they would prove themselves to be utterly trustworthy, and do their best to be the best guardians ever.

That would really show both Jor-El and Kandora that bloodlines weren't everything!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--The next day--

There was a huge argument going on in the Torch office between Chloe and the boys.

“I don't see why we shouldn't publish all of it... the public has a right to know!” Chloe insisted, referring to what had happened the other day.

Pete shook his head. “No fucking way! Seriously, if everyone found out that I can magically transform into a woman now... I'm going to be laughed off the football team!”

“I'm enough of a huge dork already... do you know how utterly humiliated I would be if the entire school ever found out that I wore such a ridiculous outfit while on one of our expeditions?” Clark pleaded.

Lex just shook his head in dismay. “Chloe, you honestly need to read a few comic books sometimes. Heroes have a secret identity for a very good reason! Besides, think of what will happen to that dog if you tell everyone... or do you not care that you may be endangering his life?”

Chloe growled out of sheer frustration.

What happened the other day was basically the coolest thing that had happened to her, like ever! The talking dog thing was awesome too. It was the kind of thing that she really wanted to tell everyone about. But for some reason the boys didn't see it the same way she did. Arrggh.

She tried reasoning with each one of them. “Pete, you said you were never doing that again. So why does it matter if everyone knows? Clark, we don't have to mention the outfit you were wearing... okay? Lex, this is real life... what does comics have to do with it? I'm sure the dog will be fine.”

All three boys started talking at once.

Principal Kwan stepped into the room, which abruptly put an end to the arguing.

Kwan sighed. “What's this shouting about? I could hear you all the way from my office!”

Both Clark and Chloe started stammering. Pete didn't say anything, but he appeared to be blushing slightly.

Once again, it was up to Lex to save their butts from trouble by doing some quick talking.

“Ummm... we were talking about what happened the other day.... I'm sure you've heard about Whitney's mom getting sick and how some of her customers ended up the same way too? Chloe wanted to do an article on it. Pete and Clark thought it was too disrespectful, that we should respect Whitney’s privacy at a time like that. I just happen to believe that it isn't the sort of thing that you publish on a school newspaper.” Lex explained.

Kwan frowned at Chloe, and she couldn't help but look properly abashed. 

This was just so like Chloe.... She was always coming up with those articles that absolutely had nothing to do with the school at all. Some of it was legitimate stuff that you might find in the Smallville Herald newspaper, but most of the time the articles sounded as if they belonged on a tabloid newspaper like the Enquirer. You know, the type of newspaper that talked about things like aliens and Bigfoot.

“Lex is correct, that has nothing to d with the school. As I've told you many times before, The school  
newspaper is supposed to report what goes on inside this school, and only this school. If this keeps up, I may have to hand control of the newspaper over to somebody else.... or shut it down entirely. Do you understand me?” Kwan said, with a very stern expression on his face.

With that, he left.

Pete let out a breath of relief. He then looked at Lex admiringly. “Man...you really know how to lie!”

Lex smirked. He then replied, “What do you mean? I don't lie at all... I only know how to bend the truth whenever it suits me. What happened the other day was the truth... Whitney's mother was a part of the story that Chloe wanted to publish. You have close ties with Whitney due to being on the football team, so of course you would want to think about Whitney's well-being while he's coping with both his parents being seriously ill. Clark being himself, always puts the emotional well-being of other people before his own. So he would side with you solely on that. ”

Clark nodded. This made perfect sense to him. “Yeah. But still, you're amazing. I would had never thought about all of that right on the spur of the moment!”

“Um... err... well..” Lex was sudden at a loss for words. It was unusual for anybody to actually give him a compliment. Most people just took for granted that Lex was always excellent at everything he did, and thus didn't really need to be paid a compliment. So he wasn't used to people doing that... and when it came from Clark himself it was like a double knockout.

Much to his mortification, Lex found himself blushing. It was even more noticeable on him than others because of his bald head. He had to will himself to stop blushing.... because Luthors simply did not do things like that, dammit!

He quickly turned around and hastily started stuffing things into his backpack like crazy. “Lunch time's almost over! Time for class!” He told them.

Pete started snickering at Lex's reaction. Poor guy couldn't gracefully take a compliment in stride, and always acted like some insanely hot chick was hitting on him whenever anybody paid him an compliment. It was actually funny.

Chloe was quietly fuming, and glaring at them all. Finally, she grumbled out a “You guys suck!” as she grabbed her bag and left.

Clark raised his eyebrows. “I guess this is our cue to leave too?”

Pete simply nodded and went to get his books. He then groaned when he realized he had biology class next. “uggh, Bio Class sucks. I heard that this week we have to dissect frogs...”

Clark made an face. “In this day and age, I'm amazed that it's still legal to cut open a living thing. After all, we have things like plastic models that you can open up and take apart. It's just cruel to use a living frog.”

Pete nodded. “I know, right? Not to mention that smell when you cut them open... eeew.”

Lex couldn't help himself at this point. He smirked at Pete, saying: “You sound like such a girl right now!”

Pete just shot him a dirty look. All the jokes about him being a woman was already starting to wear thin!

Lex had different classes in the afternoon than the ones Clark and Pete had, so they had to go their separate ways. They waved at each other, and Lex told Clark that they could meet up at the Talon after school if he wanted to study together.

Clark grinned, and nodded.

With that, Lex left the pair and walked down the hallway. 

The hall was crowded with students at this time, so it was a little bit difficult to negative. So He wasn't entirely surprised when he managed to bump into somebody.

It turned out to be Lana Lang, that girl that Clark had a crush on and often admired from afar.

“Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.” Lana smiled, looking up at Lex. 

Lex smiled back, and shook his head. “No, it's alright. It's very crowded here... bumping into people was just a inevitability. Well, see ya.” With that he moved around Lana and walked away. Unknown to him, he had accidentally dropped something very important...

Lana picked up the Jupiter wand, and tried in vain to get Lex's attention. “Hey Lex, you dropped this...” 

But it was too late, he was already gone. Lana frowned, and then looked down at the object in her hand. 'What the heck was this thing supposed to be, anyway?'

with that she walked to class, thinking to herself that she would give it back to Lex later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lana Lang was well known around town for being a quiet, demure girl who wore a lot of pink. Oh, and her totally tragic background story where her parents died in the meteor strike!

Because of this, people around town often saw her as this little princess that were to be coddled and shielded from anything that might offend her delicate sensibilities.

Lana Lang secretly hated it all. She hated how people seemed to have the inability to see her as anything but that helpless little girl who loved dressing up as a fairy princess.

She was now 16 years old, for god's sake. What happened to her parents when she was just a baby was tragic for sure... but she barely remembered what her parents were like, much less the “traumatic” event itself. So she was capable of moving on with her life, without it scarring her too badly.

So what was it with her Aunt Nell and other people always bringing up that topic ALL the time?? It honestly drove her crazy sometimes. 

The worst part? When she was ten years old, Nell had given her a necklace with a bead made out of meteor stone. Nell told her that it had been made from the same meteor that killed Lana's parents. Nell had made a huge deal about it, saying that it was a example of turning a tragedy into something beautiful. Or something like that.

Lana had honestly thought that was the most horrible and depressing birthday gift ever. She wanted to throw it into the back of her closet and never see it again. But... if she didn't wear it often, then Nell would actually throw a fit, and pretty much quilt-trip her into wearing it again.

So Lana had to wear this stupid meteor necklace and pretend that she totally loved it.... while it served as a reminder to other people in town to ALWAYS bring up her tragic background story whenever she had an conversation with anybody.

It had gotten to the point that she just automatically went on autopilot and mindlessly recited the same old story if the current conversation seemed to be steering towards that topic.

In a way, it was partially her own fault too. After all, Lana didn't have to go along with this little facade that Aunt Nell and the townspeople had set up for her. But it was a bad habit that was very difficult to break.

Lana was basically a very insecure person. So whenever she made any attempt to step away from that pink princess image and show the world that there was more to her, people tended to make such a huge fuss over that to the point that she felt overwhelmed. Some of the people's reactions to it wasn't always positive neither. So she would start questioning herself, wondering if she was doing the right thing by trying to break away from the image that Aunt Nell had built up for her. So she backslides, and once more pretends to be the girl that Aunt Nell wants her to be.

It was also the reason why Lana Lang was depressed right now. Lately, she even had lost all interest in her schoolwork and everything else in her life. After all, why bother doing any of this when she had Aunt Nell controlling everything she did? 

Aunt Nell had recently started talking about what Lana would do after High school was over. Nell didn't want her to go to any college, saying it was all so expensive and utterly pointless. After all, it was a total myth that going to college automatically granted you any job you wanted! Therefore, the logical thing to do was to stay here in Smallville and help Nell run both the flower shop and the Talon.

It had been then that Lana realized that Nell had no intention of letting Lana go... ever. She would always be there, controlling every aspect of Lana's life.

So yeah, She was utterly depressed for a very good reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--After school--

It turns out that the entire gang wasn't meeting at the Talon after school, after all. The coffee house didn't allow dogs, and Krypto had wanted to speak with them in private. So everyone wound up at the park, at a spot where they had a picnic table and a duck pond nearby.

Chloe was still pissed off about what occurred earlier today, so she sat at the far end of the picnic bench away from the three boys. 

The boys didn't seem to notice though, and they just had junk food scattered around on the table. Pete was arguing with Lex about Pespi VS Cola, while Clark was eating a hot dog.

She smiled at Krypto. “So, what did you want to talk to us about?”

“I was looking into the supernatural activity around here. I have to say, I'm totally impressed that you kids were able to deal with that for such a long time even without powers.” Krypto replied, referring to the investigations that the Torch crew often did whenever they heard of anything unusual happening.

He then continued: “However, I have a feeling that it's only going to get worse. Tell me, do you know what causes the mutations around here?”

“Actually, I have this theory that they're all caused by the meteor rocks. The mutations didn't start until after the meteor strikes of '89, after all!” Chloe answered.

Krypto was impressed again. “Right again, Chloe. You have a very excellent deductive mind! However, you do not have all the facts. The truth is... those rocks aren't meteor rocks. They're actually the remnants of a dead planet.”

Chloe looked pleased by the fact that she turned out to be right after all. But then she looked totally surprised by the last bit that the dog told her. “Wait, you're telling me that some planet exploded and chunks of it landed here? How do you know this?”

“I know because I used to live on that planet.” Krypto replied.

Chloe now had a very comical expression of shock on her face. Clark had overheard the last bits of the conversation. He had a similar expression on his face now too, and would had been choking on his hot dog had he not finished eating it.

“You're an alien??” Chloe asked, her shocked expression morphing into that one of stunned disbelief.

“Are you sure you're not a mutated dog? After all, I've met a mutated human before who were convinced that he was an alien who had been adopted by his parents as a baby, just because he had powers. He stopped believing in that though, when he found out that there was other people with powers like him.” Clark pointed out.

Pete and Lex had stopped arguing, and were now listening to this conversation with interest.

Krypto sighed. What was it with humans who wanted to believe the most mundane explanation instead of believing the truth?

“It seems that I'll have to perform a mind meld with you kids, so you can experience some of my memories. I think you'll believe me then when I tell you that everything I told you were the truth.” The dog replied.

Lex couldn't help but snort in amusement. “Mind meld? What are you, a Vulcan?”

When the others stared at him in blank confusion, he sighed. “You know, as in Star Trek? Am I the only one who watches TV? Seriously, you guys suck.”

Krypto cleared his throat. “If you guys would please line up in front of me... I'll be able to project my memories into your head. Don't worry, my memories won't overwrite any of your memories and will fade away after I'm done melding with you. Only the knowledge will remain.”

The teenagers got up to stand in front of the dog, and his diamond-shaped black mark started glowing yellow. Before anybody could react, beams shot out of that mark towards their foreheads.

It was then scenes flashed before their eyes, like a movie.

“30,000 years ago, there was a time called the silver millennium, and there was 10 planets in the solar system.” Kryto's voice served as a voice over to the mental movie that was now showing them all the planets the way they used to be.

“There used to be colonies on every planet?” Lex said, feeling torn between disbelief and awe.

Krypto then explained the rest, about Empress Lara Lor-Van and how she had sealed away Zod at the great cost of her own life. And about the wormhole though time and space which allowed everyone from the past to be fully reincarnated throughout all time periods on earth.

He also explained about how Planet Krypton had been a magical planet itself... it gave off so much supernatural energy that anybody who had lived there couldn't help but naturally develop powers and other abilities. So that was why the fragments of the planet scattered around Smallville were able to mutant people and give them powers.

However the fragments giving off that much energy came at a great cost. It had attracted the Phantom Zoners, who were utterly loyal to Zod and wanted to conquer the earth in his honor.

The meld was done now done. Back in reality, The teenagers glanced at one other. 

This was so bizarre! It was way out there, even by Smallville standards.

“So... to sum this up...” Pete said, as he tried to wrap his head around what the white dog had told them. “There used to be people living on all the planets in the solar system, but Zod used his dark power to render most of them inhabitable. The planets were represented by Sailor Warriors. The Sailor Warriors acted as guardians of both their own planets AND Kryptonian royalty. The Empress defeated Zod a long time ago, but Zod's army is back now. They want to conquer the Earth. So it's up to us to stop him, AND find the Kryptonian prince who's been reincarnated as a human being. This reborn prince may not even remember who he is, and could be anybody.... Did I miss anything?”

Krypto smiled. “ A very good synopsis of what's been going on here so far. Yes, that's pretty much everything I wanted you guys to know.”

“Are you insane??” Pete snapped, looking upset. “We're just teenagers, and you expect us to save the world? Sure, we're used to dealing with bizarre stuff in Smallville, but this is bigger than Smallville itself. Shouldn't somebody more experienced deal with this kind of responsibility?”

Lex grinned. “Oh come on. Haven't you wanted to be a hero? I can think of no greater thing than being a hero that saves the world..” his face took on a dreamy expression, as he imagined himself as a true superhero.

Pete rolled his eyes. “Of course YOU would go for this kind of thing... you're a huge comic book geek, after all!” He then smirked, once he thought of something. “Plus, if you transform there's the chance that you could turn into a woman too!”

Pete then snickered, imagining Lex as a woman wearing a sailor suit.

Lex simply nodded. “I'm not transgendered or even a transsexual, but I still wouldn't mind transforming into a woman if it meant that I got to be a superhero.”

Pete looked disgusted. “You wouldn't mind?? but.... men aren't meant to be women! It's just... unnatural!”

Lex chuckled at Pete's reaction. “Unlike you, I'm very secure in my own masculinity. After all, I'll always be a man in my soul and mind, even when magically transformed into a woman. Also, I don't believe that turning me into woman would be humiliating or make me weaker somehow. There are nothing wrong with being a woman. Far as I'm concerned, they're just like us, just without a penis.”

Chloe smiled at Lex's words. “How very progressive of you, Lex.”

Lex sighed. “Its a moot point anyway... the wand Krypto gave me still doesn't work! I've been trying it out whenever I could, and there's no response from it.”

Krypto looked slightly uncomfortable. “Actually, I looked into that problem... and it turns out that there may be a good reason for that. You see... the wand came from Planet Jupiter, which was populated mostly by amazon women. They always held this view that only women could be warriors, and that men were to stay home and take care of the kids. So they may have modified it to ensure that it wouldn't work for a man.”

Lex snorted. “Great, just my luck then. Can you modify it so that it works for men too?”

Krypto nodded. “I can get to work on that now if you like. Just bring it over to me.”

Lex nodded and went to look for the Jupiter wand in his bag.

Clark then brought up something he had been wondering about all this time. “Say... you've been looking for this reincarnated prince, right? How do you know he's here in Smallville.”

Krypto then told him that he had been scanning for a certain energy signature that could only be from a reborn Kryptonian prince. And it had showed him that he was somewhere here in Smallville.

Lex let out a loud yell, as he frantically dumped everything out of his bag. He then looked at his group of friends. “It's gone... I can't find it! I can't believe it... I lost the Jupiter wand.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, did I make Lana sympathetic?


	4. Sailor Jupiter arrives on the scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this chapter is basically Lana-oriented. But don't worry, Lana-haters! I've managed to make her way less annoying than her TV counterpart. :)
> 
> Poor Lex, he's going to be so pissed off in this chapter. Speaking of which... I got bored and played around with the Sailor Maker thing on Doll divine, and made a image of what it would be like if Lex got his way and transformed into Jupiter. You can see the bonus image at the end of the chapter, in the notes.

Lana was cloth shopping with Nell, and couldn't help but mentally sigh as her aunt picked out yet another pink dress for Lana.

“Oh, look... isn't this one so precious? I think this would look great on you!” Nell gushed.

To Lana it just looked exactly like the dozens of pink dresses that she already owned back home. She couldn't help but wonder how many pink dresses a girl needed.

Lana smiled politely. She then turned around, and pulled out a dark green dress that had a rose lace pattern on it. “Yes. But how about this one? I think it brings out my green eyes very well.”

'Anything but pink, please. I need more color in my wardrobe besides pink! I used to love pink, but you're making me hate it.' Lana mentally yelled at Nell. She didn't have the courage to say it out loud to her aunt.

Nell frowned. “Hmm.... I have to say no. I think it would make you look drastically different... and we don't want that. Put that back.”

Lana simply nodded and put it back. She then rebelliously thought to herself: 'well, what if I want to look different? Is that such a bad thing to want to be different?'

It was then they ran into one of Nell's friends, who was shopping with her son.

“Kasey, it's been a while. How are you?” Nell greeted her friend, and promptly started catching up on all the latest gossip. The boy with Kasey just smiled at Lana.

Kasey's son went by the name of Jason, and they used to play make-believe together when they were kids. Jason often pretended to be a knight who had to rescue Princess Lana from monsters. It had been way back then when Lana had been like six years old, and hadn't minded being called a princess.

“Hello, Jason. So what are you and your mom doing here? I thought I wouldn't ever see you again when you moved to Greenfield.” Lana said, referring to a place that was just two towns over on the Kansas map.

Jason's face lit up, obviously delighted that Lana still remembered him after such a long time. “Oh, my mom was just feeling nostalgic and wanted to visit her old hometown... you know how it is.”

Lana nodded. “So how have you been? Greenfield treating you well?”

Jason made a face. “Ugh, there's totally nothing to do in that town. It's even smaller than Smallville here, if you can believe that. Only a population of like 100 people and most of them adults. There isn't a school there at all, so I have to be home-schooled like the other few kids living there.” He complained.

Lana looked sympathetic. “Gee, I'm sorry to hear that.”

Jason smiled. “It's not all bad though... being home-school frees up a lot of time for me.. so I've been working on my writing skills, you know? I'm working on this fantasy novel that I hope to publish one day.”

“Oh, that's cool.” Lana replied, and she asked about the novel.

As they chatted some more, a dark shadow was moving about in the clothing store.

It observed the humans milling about, and compared them to the strange men who had summoned it to this plane of existence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
\--Flashback--

In a hidden large room underneath the Luthor castle/mansion, Lionel Luthor sat on a large imposing throne. Above the throne there was a floating spinning plane of glass, that seemed like some kind of supernatural window leading to a different dimension. It was a Phantom Zone window.

Four men stood before Lionel Luthor, waiting for him to speak.

“I'm starting to think the slow and steady route isn't working at all.” Lionel mused. “Zod needs far more energy than the amount we send him every week. And what's more, every animal and human in Smallville have been slowly absorbing all of the excess energy from the meteor rocks in the area. Soon, there won't be much energy from the rocks that we can harvest.”

Dominic, who often acted as Lionel's assistant in public, wondered out-loud. “Why don't we just harvest the energy from the people directly? It seems to me that a living creature would be able to generate far more energy than some stupid rocks do.”

Sam Phelan smirked. “Funny that you should mention that. I've actually been experimenting with collecting human energy.”

Sam was a cop working in metropolis at one point, but honestly found it to be a tedious, thankless job without much pay. He had only became a cop because the power of that position appealed to him, but found that it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. It was then that Lionel Luthor had came along and made him a much better offer. 

Sam became one of Lionel Luthor's “generals” in this grand plan to conquer the Earth. And in return, he gained so much power! He had plenty of supernatural abilities now, like the ability to brainwash people into doing his bidding. On the outside he still kept up the pretense of being a cop, but to be honest he didn't really do a lot of policing lately.

Dr. Steven Hamilton looked interested. “Oh? Care to share the results with us?”  
He was a meteorologist who had been in Smallville at the time of the meteor strike, and had been one of the first people to notice the unusual effect they had on living matter. He then had became obsessed with the meteors, experimenting with them and the like. He had even managed to draw power from the meteors to do some amazing things that pretty much defied the laws of physics. This attracted the attention of Lionel Luthor, who had recruited him shortly afterward.  
It didn't bother Dr. Hamilton that he was apparently working to unleash some supernatural evil entity upon the world... all he cared about was that he was able to continue studying the effects of supernatural phenomena associated with both the meteor rocks and Zod himself.

Phlean then told them about Fordman's jewelry store. He had a Zoner pose as Mrs. Fordman and use the jewelry to sap the energy from people. Phlean then scoffed. “Of course that stupid creature had to go and disappear on me! Still, I was able to collect a huge batch of energy.”

He then pulled out an silver box the size of a matchbox, and looked at Lionel Luthor. Sam Phlean held it out. “If you hold this, you can sense how much I collected.”

Lionel's eyes flashed red, and the container flew out of Sam's hands towards him. He then grabbed it, and looked it over. He closed his hand around the container, and focused on feeling the energy contained within it. Lionel slowly smiled, looking very pleased once he ascertained that this energy Phlean had collected for him was actually suitable for Zod.

“It would seem that we have found the answer to our energy problem.” Lionel replied.

Richard Nixon, the fourth member of the group, snorted. “Yeah, but the way Phlean went about it attracted too much attention. Causing people to collapse in public like that...”

Nixon could be described as the most discreet one out of the four generals. He used to be a news reporter who had no compunctions with using the most shady method possible to collect information and to make a few bucks. He didn't care who he hurt with his methods, as long as it got his articles to the front page. Put simply, he was the best at collecting info because nothing was able to stop him from doing that. And as a general, this ability only increased a tenfold.  
Lionel could always depend on Nixon when it came to digging up dirt on anybody he wanted to know about.

Dominic nodded. “I have to agree... if we're going to collect energy from humans, we need to do it in such a way that they won't notice. I know that the Smallville residents tend to be utterly oblivious most of the time, but they're not stupid.”

Dr. Hamilton looked thoughtful. “Does it have to be from humans? We could try collecting from a wide variety of living things and see how that works. If we collected energy from livestock, nobody expect for the farmers would notice. They may think it's just some strange virus affecting animals.”

Nixon looked like he thoroughly approved of that idea.

Phlean scoffed. “Zod strikes me as a highly sophisticated being who wouldn't accept energy from lowly farm animals. But yes, I see your point. Perhaps I should be more subtle in my approach.”

He then turned to Lionel. “My lord, I request another assistant from the Phantom Zone who is suited to hiding in plain sight while it does the work I need. I promise to collect some more energy.”

Lionel got up from his throne, and then held out the silver box towards the spinning glass object.

“Well, Zod? Do this plan has your approval?” Lionel replied, as he opened the box. A large ball of energy floated upwards out of the box, and were absorbed by the spinning phantom window.

A strange voice spoke out in some alien language, and only a few words were in English. “Rang'rka ferva Energy, febad galre very good, lurgi gahil meeke.... approved.”

With that, a dark shadow seemed to drop out of the Phantom window to the floor. The shadow was formless at first, but it started to take on an shape. It now looked like a creepy shadow man.

Phlean was pleased with his new Zoner assistant. “Perfect.”

~~Flashback End~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shadow man moved around the store floor, blending into the natural shadows well to the point that nobody saw him.

His mission was to find people with the highest amount of energy. Phlean suggested that he try the stores on Main Street, as he could select from a wide variety of people.

So far, it seemed that the older the people the least amount of energy they had. Young kids and teenagers had the most energy... but they were always with their parents. If the shadow tried to separate them from their parents right away, there was bound to be a lot of fuss going on. And Phlean had told him to avoid striking at his victims publicly in order to avoid mass hysteria.

So naturally he had to look for likely victims that looked like they planned to go off on their own soon... so once they were alone he would be able to start draining the energy from them without anybody interrupting.

He noticed two teenagers... a pretty girl dressed in pink, and a teenage boy. They were talking about some novel that the boy was writing.

“So basically the plot is all about this commoner finding out that he's royalty, and he ends up being forced to fight in this war before he has a chance to adjust to his new life.” the boy said.

The girl smiled. “Sounds really interesting! If it does get published, send me a copy...”

The shadow man moved to blend in with the teenagers' shadows. It seems that out of them all, those two young people had the highest amount of energy. Now he just had to wait for the perfect moment to strike.

Lana had basically ran out of things to say with Jason, but her aunt didn't seem to have that problem. She was still chatting non-stop with Kasey. She shifted uncomfortably, as she glanced at the older women gossiping like crazy.

Jason scoffed. “Those two... they'd talk all day if they could. Say, why don't we go over to the counter? I see they have candy and drinks that we can buy. Kill some time while we wait for the old biddies to be done gossiping.”

Lana smiled. She was a little thirsty, now that she thought of it. She nodded, and went over to her aunt. “Jason and I will be at the counter buying soda. You want anything?”

Aunt Nell just shook her head and waved her off with an dismissive air. “Um, where were I? Oh yeah, Kasey! So did you hear about Grace Perkins..?”

Lana went with Jason, shaking her head. “She barely noticed... it's like they're in their own world right now.”

Jason laughed. “You should see my mom when she's at home. She's always talking like that all the time, and errands that should had only taken a few minutes ends up being a hour instead. Because she runs into people.... and... well, you get the idea. Be thankful that your Aunt's not like that all the time.”

Lana thought to herself that she wouldn't had minded... if it would actually distract Nell from her obsession with trying to turn Lana into this perfect little town princess. Nell needed more hobbies, or at the very least some psychological help.

Nobody was at the counter, which surprised Lana. “I guess the shop owner is in the back or something. I guess this means we have to wait.” She told Jason.

Jason nodded. “Alright.” With that he started leaning on the counter to wait, looking over the candy display under the glass.

In this area of the store, the teenagers weren't in anybody's line of sight... and isolated from others. The shadow man saw this as the perfect time to strike.

His dark hands reached out of the ground right where The teenage girl's shadow were, and grabbed their ankles. 

“What the hell?” Jason yelped, as he looked down to see what grabbed him.  
Lana jumped, just as surprised.

They were promptly pulled right though the floor into a shadowy world. Strangely enough, they didn't leave a hole....so it was as if they had vanished into darkness itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lana woke up a few minutes later, to find herself floating in darkness. It almost felt like she was floating in water, but she could breathe and she didn't feel wet.

“Where am I??” Lana wondered aloud, as she tried to get a normal footing. She couldn't help but feel growing panic as she realized that she really couldn't see anything at all. And for some reason, she was slowly starting to feel weary...almost as if something was leeching her engery.

“What's this? You woke up in the middle of a energy drain... how unusual.” a inhuman-sounding voice said.

“Who are you?” Lana asked. Just her luck, it was probably yet another mutated human like Greg. Man, he had been so creepy. Greg had been this boy who had both an obsession with bugs and Lana herself. He mutated to have insect-like powers when his beloved bugs but him. He then had kidnapped Lana, with the intention that he wanted to mate with her and have dozens of bug-children offspring.

He hadn't really done anything with her expect put her into this cocoon despite his rapey-sounding intentions. Which had been a huge relief but still frightening in itself.

She had other similar experiences like that. But never anything like this... it was like she was stuck in some sort of void where she couldn't feel or see anything at all.

The only thing she could feel was a strange tingly feeling around her temples, almost as if something feather-like were touching her head. The feeling spread to her brain, like she was being mentally probed.

Given that this was Smallville, Lana considered that to be a very real possibility.

Instead of answering Lana's questions, the person spoke. “Heh, I see... this isn't your first rodeo, so to speak. You're quite the constant kidnap victim, aren't you? But that just comes with pretending to be a princess... you're pretty much asking for it when you do that.”

Despite the fact that she was frightened, she couldn't help but start to feel angry at this mystery person's words. “What do you mean, I'm asking for it?”

The unseen person scoffed. “Come on, everyone knows that princesses' purpose in most stories is to serve as the perpetual victim for the hero to rescue. You simply just don't see strong princesses who can defeat the monsters on her own. You're the most stereotypical princess-like character that I've had the pleasure of meeting... it was utterly inevitable that you'd always forever be a victim.”

The mocking tone in his voice only served anger Lana even more. The worst part was that a tiny part of her actually agreed with this mystery person... and she was sure that Nell agreed with the idea that princesses couldn't be strong characters who were totally independent. They were supposed to be passive characters who did nothing expect radiate purity.

That knowledge fueled her fury even more. She was usually afraid of going up against Nell because she had ways of making Lana's life a living hell if Lana didn't comply with whatever she wanted. However, this person was not Nell, and she wasn't around....

So for now, she could let her inner self shine though. She started mouthing off. “Oh yeah? Well, last time I looked this was real life and not some stupid fairytale! I can damn very well kick your ass if I want to!”

Unknown to Lana, the Jupiter wand in her pocket was now responding to her desire to rebel against the princess image, to change into somebody powerful. It started glowing brightly, and in a flash of light changed Lana's clothes.

The light blinded the shadow man, and made him let go of Lana. 

Lana fell to the floor, and then quickly got up. She could see now, and for some reason she was now wearing a green and pink sailor suit. Jason was lying unconscious on the floor, but he appeared to be okay for now.

The shadow man hissed. “You changed! So you're one of those meteor mutants after all...?”

“I guess I am now. So what are you going to do about it?” Lana did her best to look intimidating, as she mentally scanned the room for a weapon or anything else she could use against the shadow man.

The shadow man let out a roar, and started shifting his shape into something giant and monstrous-looking. Lana couldn't help but mentally think to herself: “damn, I am so screwed.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Okay, so it's not at the Torch or anywhere else you could have lost it.” Chloe said, as she was still looking around the torch for the lost wand.

“Lex, is it possible that somebody else could had picked it up...?” Clark couldn't help but look worried. Lex sighed.

“At this point it seems possible.” Lex said.

Krypto then turned to Chloe. “I have a idea. Why don't you transform into Sailor Mercury?”

Chloe looked confused. “Umm... no offense, but I don't see how having the ability to shoot out bubbles and fog will help in a situation like this.”

The white dog shook his head. “No, Mercury has a special item built into her visor. More specifically, a mini-computer far more powerful than all the computers on earth. It has scanning capabilities, and can pretty much find almost anything you want to look for.”

Chloe couldn't help but look fully interested at the idea of a compact super-computer. So she transformed silently, and with instructions from Krypto, was able to get her visor working.

Pete, Lex and Clark could see random images flash up on Chloe's visor but it was flipped backwards from their viewpoint and thus couldn't make out most of it. A few holographic shapes shaped like keyboards flashed around Chloe's hands as she acted like she was typing on an invisible floating keyboard.

Chloe looked like she was in love with her visor's holographic projections. “This is so cool! This thing can even access the internet and stuff like that... it pretty much displays any information I want at break-neck speeds. Krypto, you should had told me about this right off the bat!”

The dog cleared his throat. “Don't get off track, please.”

Chloe couldn't help but look sheepish. “Oh right... the Jupiter wand. I'm scanning for that now.”

After a short moment, she frowned. “Um, guys? I don't think you're going to like this. I found the wand in that clothing store on main street, but there's also activity by the Phantom Zoners in the area...”

Lex paled. “Oh... this is my fault. They got to it because I didn't keep track of it.”

Clark replied pragmatically: “We can talk about whose fault it really is once we stop those guys and get your wand back. Come on, let's go!”

Everyone nodded. Pete however, felt the need to have the last word. “Alright. But I'm not transforming into that chick version of myself again, got it?”

Chloe couldn't help but roll her eyes at Pete's comment.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the monster attacked, Lana jumped out of the way. She was acting on pure instinct as she lifted some large object and threw it at the monster. It was afterward that she realized that she had just lifted a giant boulder that clearly weighted far more than a large truck did.

“Sweet...I guess having super strength as a mutant power isn't so bad.” Lana thought to herself. She frowned when she saw that she hadn't incapacitated the shadow monster at all. It was still writhing about under the boulder, clearly trying to slip itself free.

Lana decided that it would be prudent to grab Jason and start running. So she did, and as she carried Jason away in a fireman's carry she took a good look around.

She wasn't in any place she recognized... it looked as if she was underground or something. She was in a very large dark cavern-like room, with no doors or windows.... or at least none far as she could tell. It was still dark as hell in here.

The monster was roaring loudly, as it shoved the boulder off itself.

Lana put Jason down and readied herself to fight again. If she was trapped, then she would have to fight for her life after all.

She saw a few more boulders lying around. She moved towards one of them, and tried in vain to lift it off the ground just like she had done before. This frustrated Lana because she couldn't understand what she was doing wrong... what had triggered her super strength ability before?

Maybe it was that she was thinking too much right now, and she had to let go? Just kind of just let her body react instinctively in battle...?

Lana supposed that was a good theory as any, and she had nothing to lose now that she was trapped by this monster. She took a deep breath, trying to find the strength within herself again. She had to clear her head, and just let it out just like before...

The shadow monster was heading her way at break-neck speeds, and it looked deeply angry right now. Lana had no time to throw any more large rocks at it, so instead Lana found herself blurting out words.

“Supreme Thunder!” arches of lighting appeared out of nowhere, circling around an antenna that had popped out of her forehead tiara thing. It illuminated the entire area, before flying towards the monster.

The monster howled as it was electrocuted, and the dark room vanished entirely. All three of them reappeared back in the clothing store, much to the surprise to everyone there.

“What the...? Where did you come from?” The stores clerk asked. Lana stammered out something about a monster and how she had been in a dark room before.

Nell was looking at her suspiciously, while Kasey just looked both surprised and frightened.

The shadow man was weakened, and it took this moment to quickly slide back into the shadows before Lana could hurt it anymore. It then escaped.

Lana was just thankful that she didn't have to fight anymore, and she turned around to check on Jason. Jason was still out cold, so she looked up at the store clerk. “Call 911! The monster attacked Jason and I think there's something wrong with him.”

The store clerk nodded, with a very uncertain look on his face. He went off to call 911.

Kasey rushed over once she saw that her son was out cold on the floor. She grabbed Jason out of Lana's arms, and started cradling him protectively. She looked at Lana suspiciously. “Who are you, and what happened to Jason?”

Lana was mildly surprised that Kasey didn't recognize her, but that surprise grew to epic portions when Nell stomped over. 

“Where's Lana?? She was just here with Jason!” Nell screeched, clearly not recognizing Lana neither, despite the fact that she looked pretty much the same expect for the different outfit she had on. Or at least, Lana was pretty sure she looked the same... she had to yet to look in a mirror just to make sure.  
She rubbed her gloved hand over her face, checking to see if her facial shape had changed or something. Nope, it felt the same...

So what was going on here? Why didn't Kasey and Nell recognize her?

It was then that a couple dressed similarly to Lana burst into the store, clearly looking like they were ready to take on trouble. Well, more or less. The male dressed in a male version of the sailor suit looked like he was very self-conscious of what he was wearing, and was about ready to self-combust from sheer embarrassment from being seen in public. The blonde woman was dressed almost exactly like Lana, with the difference that her Sailor suit was mostly blue. Unlike Lana, she had a blue visor over her eyes.

“Hmm, odd... the Zoner activity dissipated a few moments just before we got here...Whatever it was, it's not here anymore.” The blue sailor girl said.

“Hey, look over there. Looks like somebody activated the wand...Maybe she took out the zoner that was here?” The boy wondered.

With that, the couple walked over to Lana. 

Chloe decided to address the mystery woman by the code names, due to the fact that there was witnesses around. “Hello, Sailor Jupiter. We need to talk privately, please.”

Lana continued to be confused by this entire thing. Why was this woman calling her Sailor Jupiter?

“Um, I don't think I should leave. After all, what about Jason here? He and I were just attacked by a monster... and it was just though sheer luck that I was able to scare it off!” Lana told them.

“Monster...?” Kasey looked skeptical.

Nell was far more used to Smallville's oddities than Kasey, who had just moved out of Smallville not long after the meteor strikes. So Nell wasn't the slightest bit phased by the fact that some strange girl claimed that both she and Jason had been attacked by a monster. However, she was concerned about where Lana had gone off to.

“It's very well of you to be so concerned about this boy... but you haven't answered me! WHERE... IS... LANA?? She was with Jason!!” Nell asked.

Lana, still confused to as why Nell couldn't recognize her, just stared at her aunt with a thoroughly puzzled expression on her face.

It was then Chloe connected the dots, between Lana “mysteriously vanishing” and this girl acting so confused as to why Nell was asking where Lana was. Lana hadn't disappeared at all.... she was right here!

She then quickly covered for Lana. “Oh, Lana's fine! She ran outside when the monster attacked, and called for help. That's when Sailor Jupiter here came in to protect Jason from the monster. Jason will be fine, he's just unconscious right now.”

Nell looked chloe and the boy over with a critical eye. “And just who are you two supposed to be?”

“Well... I'm Sailor Mercury, and this guy is Sailor Krypton.” Chloe introduced the two of them.

Sailor Krypton was still acting timid about being seen out in public, just smiled weakly and mumbled an “hello” to the group in the store.

“With that cleared up, I think it's time for the sailor warriors to leave... come on, Sailor Jupiter!” Chloe practically dragged Lana outside.

Krypto, Pete and Lex was waiting for them outside.

Lex frowned when he saw “Sailor Jupiter”. It seemed that somebody else got to use the Jupiter wand before he did, much to his annoyance. It was as if the universe itself was personally out to prevent Lex from achieving one of his childhood dreams, becoming a superhero.

It would be a real kicker too, if it turned out that the wand bonded to whoever used it first too....Just like in those superhero comics that he loved reading.

Lex sighed, hoping that wasn't true and that he would get it back.

“Okay, we're all here. So... I'm guessing you're Lana?” Chloe said.

Lana nodded. She was unsure what she was supposed to say.

Lex overheard this, and realized something. “Of course! I bumped into Lana during rush traffic in the hallways at school. I must have dropped the Jupiter wand back then! And Lana happened to pick it up.”

“She then uses the wand to transform and fight the monster. Of course. But the question remains, how the heck did you know to use the wand, Lana?” Chloe wondered, as she connected more of the dots.

Lana fidgeted at this. So all of this was caused by the weird green wand that Lex dropped?

“You mean I'm not a meteor mutant? I thought with all what happened here, I might be one. After all, I actually found myself lifting heavy boulders and shooting lighting from my fingertips. I don't know what you mean by using the wand.” Lana told them.

Krypto then explained: “The wand responds to mental commands as well as a spoken set of phrases. It may have been responding to your mental state. Tell me, did you have a strong desire to change and fight?”

Lana just simply nodded, not even phased by the fact that a dog was talking to her. She had met her daily quota for weirdness in one day, and were now just feeling numb to it all.

“That's all very fine and dandy, but can I please have my wand back?” Lex complained.

Pete snorted. “Considering the color scheme of Lana's sailor outfit, I'm surprised that you still want to become some sissy-looking Sailor hero. I wouldn't had thought Green and pink would be your thing.... what with all the purple you wear!”

“It's the principle of the thing, okay?? We were chosen to save the world, and it's not fair if some random person can just come in and waltz off with what rightfully belongs to me!” Lex snapped, still a little bit sore over the fact that almost everyone else were able to transform but him. He wanted to be a hero, even if he had to transform into a woman that wore pink and green.

“Ummm... what's going on here? Why is Lex saying that you all were chosen to save the world or something?” Lana wondered, listening to everything that was being said.

Clark and Chloe looked at each other, unsure if they should tell her anything at all. After all, she was supposed to give Lex back the wand... she would be just a normal girl again afterwards.

Krypto then told Lana: “Just revert back to your normal clothes, give Lex his wand back and I'll tell you everything. Focus on reverting back to your normal state, and that should do it.”

In a flash of pink-green light, Lana was back to normal. However, before Lana reached into her pocket so that she could return the Jupiter wand back to Lex, they were interrupted by Nell coming out.

Nell had decided that after a few minutes that she would follow where the “Sailor Warriors” had gone to. Just so that she could find out where Lana had gotten to! She didn't buy the story that Lana had escaped and called for help. Lana was the type to attract all sorts of predators, after all... she was always just so vulnerable!

Nell Potter was relived when she saw that Lana was with the boys from the school newspaper. However she wasn't pleased that those Sailor people were still here. Wasn't there three of them a moment ago... where did the one in green go to?

Oh well, Nell had to take Lana away least they do something strange to her. She had to protect her little princess after all... it was her duty! That was what her darling sister would had wanted. After all, Nell had failed to save her sister Laura during the meteor storm and now it was her responsibility to raise Lana into the kind of respectable woman that anybody would love.

She stomped over to the group, and pulled Lana away. She eyed the Sailor-clad people distrustfully, as she informed them: “The police is coming.... just so you know. What's going on here?”

Lex thought quickly. “Oh... Lana came running out the side of the store here, and told us that there was a monster here. Pete and I were going to call the police, but then those Sailor warriors showed up and told us they would take care of the problem.”

Pete caught on. “Oh yeah, that's what totally happened.”

Clark and Chloe didn't want the torch office to be associated with the Sailor Warriors so soon, as seeing this might cause their supernatural enemies to find out about them.

“Right then...Everyone's safe now, and now it's time for us to go... just call out whenever you're in trouble! We'll come save you.” Sailor Krypton/Clark nervously said. He then started moving away from the group.

Chloe got into the act. “That's right... in the name of Smallville, we'll punish all evil doers! Come, Sailor Krypton, let's see if other citizens need our help!”

With that, the two of them ran off, pretending to have left for good.

“Wait! We need to interview you for the school newspaper, or Chloe will have my ass for dessert!” Pete called out, pretending that was what they had been here for all along.

Nell brought the whole thing line, hook and sinker. She sighed. “I'm so glad you're safe, Lana. Were there really some kind of monster? Kasey and I didn't see it at all!”

Lana did her best to look frightened yet relived at the same time. “Oh yeah. It was some kind of shadow creature that could hide in the dark or something like that... it was literally under my feet when it attacked both Jason and me. Jason jumped in to shield me from it, and that was how I got away. Is Jason alright?”

Nell nodded. “Yes.. He woke up moments before I came out here. He was quite confused as to what happened exactly. He remembered something coming up out of the ground but that was it.”

Chloe and Clark, now back in their normal clothes, came running back. They acted as if they had just gotten here, saying something about how they heard that something strange happened around here.

“I think we should go home and recover from this ordeal.” Nell told Lana.

“Well.. um, I was talking to Lex...” Lana said, trying to think of a good reason to stay behind and talk to the group.

Nell shook her head. “Now, it's awfully sweet of you to give the torch an interview about what happened. but surely Lex and the others would understand that you just went though something horrible, and need time to recover. Come on, sweetie... you can talk to them at school tomorrow.”

Lana looked despondent at this. She simply nodded. “Alright, Nell.”  
She then turned around to look at Lex apologetically. “Sorry, Lex. I'll talk to you tomorrow, and give back your.... 'history notes'.”

With that they left. The white dog cursed, “Damn it! I was hoping to alter her memories of this event after she gave back the wand.... looks like I'll have to do it later on when we're not in a public space.”

Lex shook his head. “I don't even get the wand back. It's like the universe's telling me that I'm not meant to be Jupiter.”

“Umm... at least we know where it is now, and can keep track of it? Plus, it doesn't look like Lana will tell anybody about what happened.” Clark offered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And that's what happened. I'm so sorry for failing... but I did manage to collect the boy's energy.” The shadow man knelled, offering up a ball of energy.

Phelan scoffed, annoyed by this turn of events. “I wonder if this was what happened with my other Zoner assistant. Lionel isn't going to like hearing about this... but maybe the measly amount of energy you got me will placate him. Damn it... and it was such a good plan too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/SailorAurora/My%20art/LexAsJupiter_zpsf4e5ee98.jpg
> 
> Yes, I made Lionel Luthor the smallville version of Queen Beryl. Deal with it. ;)


	5. Talk Radio, Part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Smallville take on Sailor Moon's episode "Talk radio", part one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to do every single Sailor Moon episode, that would be crazy. Considering that there's like 200 of them.... ^^;;  
>  I think I'll just basically riff on my favorite episodes only. And it just happens that "Talk radio" was one of my favorite early eps in Sailor Moon. So of course I had to do a Smallville take on this!   
>  In this chapter we get a look into Lex Luthor's life, and see how much changed due to his age... and how Lionel Luthor changed due to him having evil supernatural powers. I know the story goes all over the place at times, but please bear with me. I'm just trying to flesh out the Sailor Moon/Smallville fusion universe. :) I couldn't help but throw in the red truck bit as a joke though... heheh.

Lex sighed, as he hung up his jacket in the foyer. All that searching for the wand, and for it to end up in Lana's hands....!

He went to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat, and the cook frowned at him. “Master Lex, you're late. Supper was over an hour ago... do you want me to heat it up for you?”

Lex simply nodded. “Yes, that would be great. Thanks.... I had a meeting with the other torch members after school and it ran later than I thought it would. Sorry about that.”

The cook shook her head as she said: “I don't know why you bother with that school newspaper. It's not like you need a record of your school activities to get into a good college. After all, your father can get you into any school you desire. So for you to do such a tedious thing like writing up articles about the school lunch and the football players...”

Lex smirked. “You're oversimplifying things there. I like working for the school newspaper, even if I have to report on boring things like that. All my friends are working at the torch too, so it's nice to be able to hang out with them in one place like that. Besides, I like how it annoys my father that I choose to do such a thing....”

The cook chuckled. “I see. Well, go ahead and wait. I'll have the food heated up in no time.”

Lex then asked: “Could you have it sent up to Lillian's room? I want to talk to her about my day.”

Cook's smile faded at this. “Oh... sure. I'll have Edward carry the food up there, then.”

Lex nodded and headed for the stairs. He hadn't missed the strange expression that the cook had tried to hide from him.

All of the staff tended to avoid having anything to with Lillian, unless they really had to. Apparently they couldn't deal with having to care for a woman who had basically withdrawn from the entire world and herself. The doctors had diagnosed her with catalepsy, although everyone in the mansion knew it was anything but that.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lillian had managed to survive cancer, and went on to give birth to two sons-- Lex and Julian. Lex was the oldest by 7 years, and so he had been excited to be a big brother to a newly born Julian.   
Around at the same time, It looked like Lillian's cancer was in remission. It came back with such a vengeance that it looked like she wasn't going to make it. So it had been a great source of stress for Lillian.

Lionel Luthor barely interacted with his sons back then, preferring to have little contact with them as much possible. He had joined some sort of strange cult that had to do with contacting aliens from another dimension or something like that! So Lillian had worried about who were going to be there for her sons when she died, because clearly Lionel Luthor was just a rich crazy man who were out of touch with reality.

However, little did she know that her oldest son Lex had a mysterious healing ability of his own.

Lex had always thought he was a meteor mutant... what with his rapid regeneration,and his ability to use his own body as a form of life-support for other people. He could touch living things that was in the middle of dying and heal them back to life. He had first discovered it when he touched a dying rose, only for it to instantly bloom back to life.

So, he started using this ability for his own mother... healing her just by holding her hand whenever possible. Within months, her cancer was gone again.

However, during those months a great tragedy had occurred in the Luthor family... Julian had mysteriously died of SIDs, with no discernible cause. It was that another tragedy occurred soon afterward. You see, when Lillian found out that she was beating cancer yet again, and that she wasn't dying after all....

Well, that was when she had a mental break-down. At that moment she had mumbled something like: “So I did it for nothing....? Oh poor baby, what have I done?”

She started to withdraw from others, and only physically responded to her son. But eventually, she just stopped responding altogether.

She now sits in her room, staring blankly at the walls in a vegetative-like state.

It was only by virtue of Lex's own abilities that she continues to be alive to this very day. Everyday, Lex often goes up into her room, and interacts with her in the hopes that Lillian might one day come to her senses. He holds her hands, and channels much of his healing energy into her much as he can.

he talks about what his day's been like too.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Of course, I should have known something like this would happen... The universe has a real cruel sense of humor, after all. When it looked like I was going to have one of my fondest dreams come true, the universe yanks it away and gives it to another. I wouldn't be surprised if Lana decided to keep that thing instead of giving it back.” Lex complained to his mother, as he ate his grilled cheese sandwich that had came with the tomato soup.

He then took on a speculative expression. “You know... Pete didn't seem all that keen about being Sailor Mars. I wonder if he would let me use his wand just once or twice. Heck, Clark would probably let me do it too with his brooch. He seems so horribly embarrassed every time he transforms. Of course I can see why he would be embarrassed with a outfit like that. But I think I could make it work if I was the one wearing it.”

Lillian didn't respond to any of this, and stared off into space with a vacant expression. She was lying down in bed and stayed so still that you might had thought her a corpse if it wasn't for her eyes, which blinked occasionally.

Lex laid down his sandwich on the tray, and he leaned over to look at Lillian.

“Not that I'm ever going to tell my father about any of this... but I wonder how he would react if he ever found out that I wanted to be a superhero so bad that I didn't even mind being gender-bent in order to become one.”

He chuckled, and started mimicking Lionel Luthor. “He'd probably say something like... 'Alexander Joseph Luthor! This is not the proper behavior befitting a true Luthor. You will stop this childish desire to become a character like the ones out of your silly comic books! Furthermore, it is highly disgusting that you would willingly subject yourself to magic that changes your gender... it is against the natural order of things!'”

Lex stopped talking, as he focused on dipping the rest of his grilled cheese sandwich into the tomato soup. When both the sandwich and the soup was all gone, he sat back in his seat.

He looked thoughtful. “Come to think of it, I haven't seen my dad in a while. It's been like, what, a week? I wonder what he's up to...Oh well, not that I care.”

He continued to talk to his mother for the rest of the night, and in the morning the staff found him curled up against Lillian, sound asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex ran into his father the next morning at breakfast.

Lionel raised his eyebrows as he noticed his son walk into the dining room blearily.

“Hello, son. The servants tell me that you've been sleeping next to your mother again.” Lionel commented in what was a clear tone of disapproval. “Don't you think it's time you put that kind of childish behavior behind you? After all, only toddlers need to sleep with their parents when they've had a bad night.”

Lex glared at his father. “I would stop doing that if a certain somebody would actually bother to act like a real husband and take care of his wife. Somebody needs to be there for her, and you haven't been in the same room with her for years now. So as her son, I have to make sure she's well-cared for.”

This was a old familiar argument they had over the years, ever since Lillian fell into a catatonic state following Julian's death.

Lionel pinched his forehead, as if fighting off an headache. “Not this again. Look, I can't help it if Lillian is suffering from a prolonged mental breakdown.... I've done all I can for her. It's time that you accepted that.”

Lex scoffed. “Yeah, whatever.”

He then sat down, and started shoveling down his scrambled eggs and french toast. Lex refused to respond to any more of his father's comments as he ate quickly, just so that he could get out of there faster. Soon as the food was gone, he rushed out the door.

Lionel shook his head. “Ugh, teenagers... why do every one single of them have to go though a rebellious phrase?” He then thought to himself, 'I can't wait until I finally get the immortality that was promised to me. Then I'll finally have no more use for Lex.'  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
\--Smallville high school--

There was a large crowd of students around some table outside.

“What's going on?” Lex asked of Chloe, once he saw her.

“Oh, hi. Seems that there's some kind of contest for a new talk radio show of some sort...” Chloe answered, as she pointed to a poster that had the local radio station's logo on it. The local radio station was known as Crow FM, and often were popular with all people of ages.

However, Lex wasn't exactly into the radio like some of the other locals were and lost interest as soon as he heard that. “Oh, I see...” he replied in a bored tone of voice.

Chloe was oblivious to Lex's lack of interest. She then explained, “Seems that they want to hold some sort of romantic story contest? And in return the main prizes are money and a truck. People who didn't win get commemorative flower brooches/and or watches for participating, depending on the gender. The watches and flower pins sounds lame as heck, but I could really go for that money.... what do you think, Lex?”

Lex looked at the flyers that they were passing out, and grabbed one to take a better look.

He then scoffed. “first runner up gets the red truck, second runner gets 600 in cash, etc. I have to say, none of this really interests me. But I have to say that for you, there's easier ways to earn cash or get a hot ride. For one thing, you could always ask me for cash... I'm always happy to help out a friend, after all.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you wouldn't understand after all what with you practically being Richie Rich! Sure I could get 600 bucks from you, but it wouldn't be the same as actually earning that money myself... even if it is though a contest. And I wouldn't mind having that truck if I actually won first place...”

Pete and Clark then showed up, and they asked what was going on like Lex had done. So Chloe rehashed the whole thing again for them.

Clark then smiled. “A red truck, huh? You know, my family's been thinking of getting a new vehicle since the one we have now is kind of old now...”

Pete sniggered. “Yeah, but you have to write some kind of romantic story to win that truck... and you have never dated once in your entire life, Clark. How are you going to write romance when you haven't experienced it yet?”

Clark made a face. “Gee, way to be mean. You didn't have to say it like that...”

“I dunno, I happen to think Clark's a good writer. He can write about the most mundane topic ever and manage to keep it interesting. I think he could write a good romantic story even if he hasn't had much experience with it.” Lex said loyally.

Clark gave him a bright grin in return. “Thanks, Lex.” He then looked at Pete, sticking his tongue out. “See, that's how you're supposed to act when you're my best friend.”

Pete just rolled his eyes, while Chloe shook her head.

“Just so you know, you're up against competition... me! And unlike you, I've had my share of dates. So be prepared to ask me for rides from my new shiny truck... or having to beg me for money if I get the 600 bucks instead!” Chloe couldn't help but taunt Clark due to her competitive spirit flaring up.

Clark chuckled. “Is that so? How about a bet... the loser has to buy the entire group dinner?”

Chloe laughed. “you're on!”

Lex couldn't help but wonder, “What happens if you both lose? There's a lot of people entering this contest after all.”

Chloe couldn't help but scoff at this. “Oh come on... we both work for the Torch. It's practically our job to write stuff for the school. How could we lose to somebody else who doesn't write things for the school everyday? It's just unthinkable.”

Pete and Lex both smiled at this. Lex then said, “Well, may the best writer win. But I think we better go to class now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~The next day~~

Phlean was pleased with his new plan. He really should had gone with this in the first place, but thinking of a plan that didn't involve having to be there personally when the energy was collected wasn't exactly his forte. He tended to be far more direct in his dealings with people, after all.

Surely no meteor mutants could find out about this new activity and try to stop him this way.   
After all, every prize they gave out was triggered by talk radio, and the energy was carried over to him though the airwaves. He didn't quite understand it when Hamilton had tried to explain it to him, but hey it worked. And if any meteor mutants came to stop him... well, he could easily use his mind control abilities to covert them over to his side.

Any meteor mutant that could stop a Phantom Zoner in it's tracks could be useful, after all.

He then looked up at the headquarters of Crow FM, Smallville's local radio station. He chuckled, not believing his luck that there was actually a radio station in a small town like this. It just meant that he had to use up less energy trying to create a radio station out of nothingness. And he had mind-controlled the owners into running that fake contest for the kids of Smallville High.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~ School, lunchtime at 12:00~~  
Lana Lang hesitated in front of the Torch's office door. She couldn't help but take out the green wand and look at it again.

She had transformed in the safety of her bedroom yesterday, just to check herself out again in the mirror. She liked the green and pink sailor uniform, it seemed stylish on her even if the skirt was a little too short for her tastes.

She was just amazed at the idea that nobody could really recognize her in this outfit... and oddly enough that idea seemed so appealing. She could become anonymous, and do whatever she wanted without fear of Aunt Nell ever finding out. That thought made her reluctant in giving it back to it's original owner... even though it would be the right thing to do. It was already bad enough that she choose to keep it for a whole day yesterday!

She sighed. No matter what, she was a good girl above all else... she couldn't give in to her own petty desires. Besides, the torch crew had mentioned something about the fate of the world being at stake. So this wand had to be pretty important to them... plus she was curious to find out what was going on here.

With that thought, she finally went into the office.

Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan was bent over their own PC computers, so utterly absorbed in whatever it was that they were doing that they didn't notice her come in.

Lex and Pete was arguing about cars, from the sound of it. Lana couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't one day that they didn't argue. Every time she ever saw them together in the hallways or elsewhere, they were always arguing about something. Maybe it was some sort of weird male bonding thing?  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There's no way that Italian imports could ever be better than American fast cars! You always have to stay loyal to your country, and buy American.” Pete was saying.

Lex scoffed. “If all I did was buy American, then I wouldn't had ended up with that Lamborghini Aventador! I'm sorry, but I just love that Italian car way too much to ever buy American again.”

Pete silently admitted to himself that the car was really beautiful, and that he would kill to have one. But that was something he couldn't ever tell Lex, otherwise he would never hear the end of it. And it looked like he was rapidly losing this argument, which was something he hated. He just had to win against Lex just once, dammit!

Clark had asked him once what was with his obsession with trying to one-up Lex once a day, but Pete were unable to explain it clearly. Besides, it was sort of Clark's fault this “rivalry” got started in the first place.

You see, Pete used to be Clark's number one best buddy all the way back in kindergarten. They grew up together to the point of being like brothers. Then in the first grade, Lex had joined their class. Lex had been a new kid, having moved here from Metropolis... so he didn't have any friends.

It wasn't easy for Lex to make friends, on account of him having a bald head.... and even in Smallville that sort of thing made you stand out. There was even some kids who started bullying him because of it, and one day Clark had stood up to the bullies for Lex. Ever since then Lex kind of followed Clark around like a lost puppy.... becoming fast friends with Clark.

Pete had been somewhat upset by the change in dynamics, and couldn't help but feel like his position as Clark's number one buddy was being threatened. So he had hated Lex at first, seeing him as “competition”. Lex had been aware of Pete's feelings, and seemed to believe that they needed to compete for Clark's affections. Lex set out to win the “best friend” position that Pete currently held at the time. So they had an heated rivalry for a while there...

Of course, Clark had tried to put a stop to that once he found out. He had told them both that it was silly that a person could ever only have ONE best friend... that he considered them both to be his best friends, plural. But that didn't work much to Clark's chagrin.... the rivalry continued for a while.

Of course, it didn't last. Over time Pete and Lex had developed a little bit of a grudging respect for each other, and even became somewhat friendly towards each other. Eventually, any bitter feelings they had towards each other faded away entirely and gave away to a solid friendship. They still argued with each other though, just to keep up appearances. By then, Clark had given up on them getting along like normal people and just got used to the whole setup they had going there.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex noticed Lana first before the others did, and got up. “Lana! Are you here to return my wand?”

He asked, almost too eagerly. He really wanted his wand back.

Everyone else turned around in their chairs to look at Lana.

Lana fidgeted, as she spoke. “Um.... if it's not too much trouble, I would like a explanation as to what's going on here exactly before I hand the wand over. If that's okay. I mean, I did get attacked by a monster and all...” She couldn't help but look at everyone with dewy eyes, doing the hurt little girl act out of sheer habit.

So Chloe wound up telling her everything.... well, almost everything. Clark had butted in with some suspiciously specific denial about how Sailor Krypton was totally NOT him at all. And that there was no way that Clark would ever be caught wearing a male version of the magical sailor uniform, especially when it had red hooker boots that went all the way up past his knees.

Both Lex and Chloe couldn't help but roll their eyes at this part. It was just so like Clark to attempt to look good in front of his crush, and fail big time.

Pete snickered. “Smooth, Clark. Really smooth.”

Lana couldn't help but blink at this, looking slightly confused as to whenever Clark wanted her to know or not. Because that lie was just so blatantly horrible. She said, “Um, okay? You're not Sailor Krypton. Got it.”

Clark looked honestly relived at that.

Lana then looked thoughtful. “So a talking dog comes along and gave you those, and told you that the world were in trouble. But, how do you know he's telling the truth? For all we know, he could be just a deranged meteor-afflicted dog who apparently watched too many magical girl shows like Princess Comet.”

At their blank expressions, she couldn't help but flush. “So I like watching cute and girly anime... so what?”

Lex choose to ignore that part, and just told her: “Well, let's say we had it verified. We know for sure that something big is going on here. That monster you saw wasn't normal... at least not normal for Smallville anyway. And you know it. Didn't you feel a unusual energy that was different than what we normally see in Smallville?”

Lana nodded. She then chuckled, taking on a rueful air as she told them: “Well, considering that I get kidnapped by meteor mutants like ALL the time.... I can kind of tell when something's different than the Smallville definition of normal. That shadow creature was really out there, even for Smallville. There was a moment where I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it. At least with the meteor mutants, there was that hope I'd make it out alive.”

Chloe looked thoughtful at this. “Actually, now that you mention it... you do seem to be a magnet for those mutants. Any idea why that is...?”

Lana just shrugged. “No idea at all. Although that shadow creature mocked me for deliberately making myself look like a weak princess that needed to be rescued all the time... it basically implied that I set up myself to become victimized by predators out there. That I was practically begging to be kidnapped on a regular basis.” She couldn't help but look angry at this last part.

Chloe couldn't help but look furious too. “Jeez! I've heard of victim-blaming before, but that was horrible! I wouldn't listen to that if I were you... it's pretty typical of predators to try to foist off all responsibility off to the victims that they attacked. That way, it's NEVER their fault that they did such horrible things in the first place.”

Lana smiled at Chloe for understanding how she felt. “Thanks. Anyway, It actually got me so mad at it that I transformed and kicked butt. I wasn't even trying to use the wand consciously... it just kind of happened. It's actually kind of amazing....”

Lex remarked, “This is all very interesting, but can we please get the part where you give me my wand back?”

Just then there was a loud commotion outside... It sounded like there was a very frantic crowd forming outside in the hallway. Everyone in the Torch office then walked out to see what was going on.

There was a pair of cheerleaders who had apparently collapsed outside in the hallway. But one of the “unconscious” were snoring loudly, utterly oblivious to the crowd that they were drawing.

A upset-looking jock were hovering over them, as he looked up at Principal Kwan. The jock explained, “I don't know what happened. I went over to them to talk and stuff. Then all of a sudden it was like they were acting like they hadn't slept all night. They just passed out!”

Principal Kwan looked troubled. “This isn't the first case. I've seen a teacher and a few other students pass out like this too today... they're all at the infirmary now. I think something's going on here... Dale, I want you to go and call 911... tell them that we need an hospital van for at least 7 people.”

Chloe completely forgot about Lana and the wand... this was so much more interesting! She rushed over to interrogate Kwan over the odd events going on in school. “So, Kwan...what do you think? Abusing 24 hour energy pills or what?”

Pete looked at Clark. “Don't you think this has the Zoners' signature over all over it? Maybe we should go find Krypto.”

Clark nodded, and they left. Lana realized that lunch was over, and that she was actually late for class. With an apologetic look at Lex, she quickly scurried away.

Lex muttered to himself: “And of course the universe conspires against me yet again. Seriously, why can't I just have a wand of my own and become a hero??”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark used super speed to try to find Krypto, and it just happened that he wound up at his farm. Sure enough, he saw Krypto in the house with his parents!

He super-sped into the house, and blurted out: “Krypto! What the heck are you doing here?”

The white dog was somewhat surprised to see Clark. “Oh, hello. Aren't you supposed to be in school? Anyway, I'm talking to your parents about your duty as a Sailor Warrior.”

Clark then looked at his parents to see how they were taking it. They were sitting around the kitchen table, looking slightly shell shocked. Clark wasn't sure if it was due to the talking dog bit, or the fact that Clark was called on to save the world from evil shadow aliens.

To be fair, Clark couldn't still envision himself saving the world. Even though he was super-strong and super-fast, he was still just your typical teenage boy who loved sleeping in and eating junk food. The fact that he had “saved” people a few times in the past was totally moot... those things tended to happen by accident, or he was forced to do so due to circumstances. It wasn't like he intentionally set out to be a hero.

So he thought his parents were probably having a hard time picturing him as some kind of superhero too.

“Son... why didn't you tell us sooner?” Jonathan asked. Clark chuckled sheepishly.

“Well.... I wasn't sure how to tell you guys. I mean, the whole thing sounds so ridiculous when you think about it. Having to battle shadow aliens from another dimension, and saving the planet in the process??” Clark pointed out.

Clark's parents then stared at the white dog. Martha frowned. “You didn't tell us that part, Krypto. Is any of what Clark said true?”

It was the dog's turn to look sheepish. “Um... well, I was going to tell you that part eventually. I was just going to work up to that part.”

Jonathan scowled. “If you're going to lie to us by omission, then I have to say I disagree with Clark partaking in this so-called 'Sailor warrior' business! It was one thing when you told us that Clark was supposed to find a missing prince in Smallville.. but I can't condone the fact that my own son could go up against dangerous aliens! Besides, Clark has enough on his plate as it is... he has to help out with the farm, after all.”

Martha nodded. “That's right... it just sounds too dangerous for a teenage boy like Clark to take on alone. Even with his powers.”

Krypto's ears perked up at this. “Oh, but he's not in this alone... I've recruited the rest of the Torch staff from Clark's school.”

Martha couldn't help but look horrified. “So you're choosing to have normal children fight as Sailor Warriors? There's a reason why this world declared that child soldiers were unethical in the first place! Why couldn't you pick out a few trustworthy adults to do this instead??” 

Martha then looked at Clark. “Does your friends' parents even know about this??”

Before Clark could answer, Jonathan interrupted the flow of the conversation. “Say.... why did you come over here in the middle of a school day? If I'm right, you're supposed to be in science class about right now.”

Clark couldn't believe he had almost forgotten about the people who collapsed at school. “Oh yes... there was seven people at school who fell asleep and wouldn't wake up at all no matter what everyone did. It was like they just collapsed. Pete thinks that it might be signs of Zoner Activity... so I came here to fetch you. Just so you could confirm it for sure, you know?”

Krypto nodded. “That does sound likely.”   
He then walked over to Clark, and looked up at him expectantly. Clark looked down at him, looking slightly confused as to what Krypto was waiting for. Krypto then said, “Well, aren't you going to lead the way? I can super-speed too, but I think it would be rude for me to arrive at school before you had a chance to follow me.”

Clark's expression cleared up. “Oh, right!”  
He then turned to go.

Jonathan couldn't help but protest. “Clark! You know we don't approve of this activity that you're doing! You should leave it up to adults to deal with this sort of thing...”

Clark sighed. He should had expected this... his parents were always like that, even when he was going up against normal meteor mutants. They didn't seem to understand that the normal adults couldn't handle meteor mutants or any other supernatural beings.... that the adults of Smallville seemed entirely unequipped to deal with anything more powerful than they were.  
The only thing they were prepared to do was turn a blind eye to every supernatural activity and pretend that everything was normal.

It wasn't like Clark was setting out to risk his life... in fact, Clark would be happy to lead a normal life if he could. But at the same time he couldn't stand by if it meant that somebody would suffer or die.

His parents understood that part, but despite understanding why Clark felt like he had to do it... they couldn't accept that their little boy was the only one who could take on powerful mutants who were suffering from a mental breakdown. So it was like Jonathan and Martha was torn between feeling proud of their son, and worrying about his safety.

This Sailor Warrior business was basically the icing on the cake compared to everything else!

Instead of dredging up the same old argument they had several times in the past, Clark just shook his head at his father. “Look, seven people need my help. We'll talk about it when I come back.... okay?”

Before his parents could protest again, he super-sped out of the yellow farmhouse. Krypto was right behind him in a white blur.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark was amazed to see that the white dog could actually keep up with him.

“Wow, you really do have super-speed too! What else can you do?” Clark said, as the dog ran alongside him.

Krypto replied, “It seems that we have much in common when it comes to our powers... I almost have all the powers that you do. Invincibility, super-strength, and speed. I don't have the heat vision skill, or the super-breath.” He then couldn't help but joke: “Would you count bad breath to be a super power? Because Kandora is always going on about how my breath alone could render a whole army unconscious.”

Clark just smiled weakly at the lame joke. He then thought to himself: “Great. The day I finally find somebody with the same powers as me, the person turns out to be a talking dog. Jeez, my life is sure werid!”

He then wondered if an alien dog even had to deal with the same existential angst that he did when it came to being a meteor mutant who apparently hit the superpower lottery. If not, then how could they commiserate together about what it was like to have those powers? Just once it would be nice to meet another human being who had the same powers.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end they almost didn't need Krypto to verify that there was a Zoner around. When Clark and Krypto came back, there was ambulance vans already leaving the school grounds with the sleeping paitents.

Chloe was helpful as usual, telling them everything they needed to know. “I found out what was going on with those people. Apparently, all seven people had been participating in that radio contest... because they were wearing the pins and the watches that the contest gives you just for participating. They had to be working all night on their entries considering that the contest just started yesterday. They went to school without getting any sleep.... it was no wonder why they all fell asleep on the spot!”

Pete looked relived. “I guess that means that there's no Zoner around, then? I guess we can just go on with our usual business then...”

Clark wasn't relived much to everyone's surprise. In fact, he said in a dismayed tone of voice: “They already submitted entries?? Oh no... and I'm only halfway done with my own entry!”

Chloe smirked. “Oh come on... It was mostly cheerleaders and some jocks who entered that writing contest. You know that their entries is probably filled with spelling errors and text-speak! Or be all about boning each other. I think we still have a chance... after all, we know how to keep it classy.”

Clark let out a long exhale at this. “I hope so. Because I really want that red truck...”

Krypto looked annoyed with how casual everyone seemed to be about the whole thing.   
“Well, even if there's a mundane explanation for this, I think we still should scan for Zoner activity just to be on the safe side. The last thing we need is for a Zoner to catch us off guard. Chloe, please come with me... the rest of you can go to classes, but keep a eye out for any more unusual activity.”

The kids looked at each other, but decided to do as the dog suggested.

With that, everyone split up for the day.


	6. Talk Radio, Part two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two of Talk radio.
> 
> Basically a Smallville take on one of my favorite early Sailor Moon eps, Talk radio. I also decided to speed up the Sailor Moon timetable, with the crystal-collecting thing. And that was when I realized that both Sailor Moon and Smallville had something in common. Namely, the three stones of power that then forms together to create a powerful crystal. That sounds highly familiar to Sailor Moon's thing where they had to collect 7 crystals that then could be formed together to create a powerful crystal. luckily for the Smallville crew they only have three instead of seven crystals to contend with. :p

The next day, everyone was sitting around in the Torch office with Krypto.

The white dog shook his head. “I just don't understand this.. I actually found traces of the Phantom Zone's energy signature on those sleeping victims at the hospital. But the scans show no signs of Zoners in the area. Could they have found a way to mask their presence?”

“Well... we kind of let out the Sailor Warrior gig out of the bag with Lana's incident. So chances are that they already know about us and is careful not to get caught in the act again.” Chloe pointed out.

Clark nodded. “And it's not like we don't have any leads. Remember, all of the victims had a connection to the talk radio contest. So maybe we should check out the Radio headquarters?”

Krypto looked thoughtful. “Hmm... but they might get suspicious if you went into the station as yourself. They may connect you with Sailor Krypton. But on the other hand, I don't want you to go as Sailor Krypton. If it turns out that Crow FM had nothing to do with the Zoner activity, your presence there might just raise some unneeded attention.”

“So you're telling me that I shouldn't go?” Clark wondered.

The dog snorted. “No, I'm saying you need to disguise yourself. And it just so happens I think there's a solution to that. Clark, that brooch you hold does so much more than just transform you into Sailor Krypton. It also has the ability to disguise you into anybody you desire, as any woman or man.”

Pete frowned. “Wait a minute... does my item do the same thing? You mean to tell me that I could had disguised myself as a cool male hero instead of a woman.... dude, why didn't you tell me this from the start? I wouldn't have to worry so much about being forced to transform into a woman again!”

Krypto looked apologetic at this. “Actually, no. You see, every item has their own special ability in addition to magically transforming you into a Sailor Warrior. For instance, the original Sailor Mercury was a tactical genius who often utilized clever strategies to win defensively rather than offensively. She often utilized super-computers to help her in battle. That's why Chloe can use the tiny supercomputer that's embedded into her visor, and also the Kryptonian holographic technology that comes with it.”

“I see... What can my mars wand do then?” Pete couldn't help but sound disappointed.

Krypto paused to search his memories of the Martian people. “Let's see... the Martians were a highly telepathic race. The power of fire had a significant spiritual meaning for them. The original Sailor Mars was a female Martian who had used the sailor wand to enhance her psychic powers... meaning that she was able to increase her abilities twofold than that of normal Martians.”

“So.... I become a psychic when I transform into Sailor Mars?” Pete scoffed. “Gee, that sure makes up for the mental trauma I went though.... not!”

“Geez, stop being such a drama queen.” Lex said, “You were a woman for like 3 minutes before reverting back. And it wasn't like anybody was forcing you to become a woman again ever since. Where does the mental trauma come from?”

Pete glared at Lex. “What did you just call me?? I am not a drama queen.... that's for women and gay men only!”

Lex snickered. “Really? Because you sure act like a drama queen....hmm, I wonder what that makes you?”

Pete growled. “Oh! That's it! How about we go outside and settle this like real men?”

“Guys! We don't have time for your petty bickering...” Clark cut in, looking like he was about to have a massive headache from listening to his two best friends fight.

Chloe nodded. “Clark's right.. we got to settle this situation quickly as possible. Last thing we want is more Zoners harming people around here.”

Clark then faced the dog. “So how do I use this disguise ability?”

“All you have to do is call out those words: 'Krypton power, transform me into'.... you can say whatever you want to be after that part.” Krypto explained.

Clark followed the instructions, and now he was dressed like an handsome businessman. He looked significantly older thanks to the tailoring of the suit, and his hair was now blonde.

Chloe smiled. “You look really good as a blonde... ever thought about dying your hair?”

Clark chuckled. “Yeah, right.... my parents would have a fit if I actually dared to do something like that! Anyway... I've got to go check out the station now. I'll contact you if I find out anything.”

With that, he left.

Chloe then asked: “Shouldn't we be going with him too? I know we don't have the same disguise ability but I'm sure we still should go anyway.”

Krypto shook his head. “No, I want you guys to travel around in Lex's car while you scan all of Smallville for any signs of abnormalities. After all, what if the whole radio station was just a obvious distraction for us in order to keep us busy while they got away with collecting more energy?”

Pete nodded, just happy that he didn't have to transform again. “makes sense.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Clark super-sped all the way over to the radio station, and managed to sneak into the building without anybody noticing.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Phlean was pleased as punch, as he packed the last of his collected engery into his tiny sliver box. He then gave it to his shadow creature. “Bring this to Lionel Luthor, and tell him that it's from me.”

the shadow man nodded, and vanished into thin air.

He then turned to his other assistant... the one who were running the new radio show for him.

This one looked vastly different than the shadow man. The monster appeared to be a very muscular woman in a green toga. Her skin was white like paper, and her blood-red hair swirled about her head like she was in a zero-gravity room. She smiled back at Phlean, revealing a whole sharp set of jagged teeth and fangs.

“Dis is a very good plan, sir. All th' 'tupid humons have no idea 'hat 'hey're volunteering to be farmed 'nd fed to our great Lord Zod.” Flau, the monster said... her sharp fangs making it difficult for her to speak the English words correctly.

Phlean nodded. “Just be careful, and watch out for any meteor mutants who might stop us. They stopped us the last two times, and I would like to find out who it is.”

“Vhat are ye going to do when ye find out?” Flau wondered.

“Simple. Make them a offer that they cannot refuse... and if they do refuse, we kill them. Nobody dares to stand in the way of Zod unless they're suicidal!” he answered.

The monster nodded approvingly at this. At least this human had the intelligence and common sense to recognize where they stood in Zod's grand plan.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello? Are you alright?” Clark wondered, as he stood in front of a man who were working here at Crow FM.

Everyone here seemed strangely glassy-eyed, and moved about like they were zombies. They barely responded to Clark's questions, only replying if the question required a one-word answer.

“Yes.” The man simply said, not even questioning why this strange businessman was here without an appointment.

He then walked away, still carrying a pile of letters in his arms to one of the backrooms where they were to be sorted.

“Ugh... and I hoped Krypto was wrong about this. But it definitely looks like something is going on here...” Clark thought to himself, as he climbed the stairs to the broadcasting rooms.

He extended his super-hearing to listen in on any activity going on.

“And this romantic letter is from a Brooke Jameson, aged 17 from Smallville High School. She writes the following...”

He then tuned out, as he moved into the hallway. They were doing that radio contest like everything was normal... so why were everyone acting so weird downstairs?

He then peered into the room to see who were doing the broadcast. It turned out to be some blonde guy who had a really seedy-looking appearance. He didn't recognize the guy at all... Clark tended to remember the faces of everyone who lived in Smallville, even though he didn't know them personally. And with that he was able to confirm that this guy wasn't from Smallville at all.

“And just vhat are ye doing 'ere?” a guttural female voice growled behind him.

Clark spun around, but not in time to dodge an attack from the Zoner.

He was sent flying across the hallway, and he rolled to a stop. He then got up, glaring at the Zoner.

So this whole contest was fake, after all? It was clearly just a ruse to suck energy from people.... Damn it! Clark had really wanted that truck.

“Krypton Prism Power, Make up!” Clark cried out. In a red flash, he was now dressed as Sailor Krypton.

“I won't forgive those who scams high school students with a fake contest. A champion of love and justice, I am the handsome sailor-suited warrior, Sailor Krypton! I'll punish you on behalf of everyone who were mislead by your evil actions!” He blurted out, still too angry to think straight. He couldn't get over the fact that there was no red truck for him to win at all. He still hadn't sent his entry in, but there was the principle of the thing!

“Sailor Krypton? Ho ho ho, never 'eard of ye! Time for ye to die!” Flau said, as she spit out a large blast of energy out of her mouth.

Sailor Krypton dodged it, and now there was a large hole in both the wall behind him and the ceiling.

Sailor Krypton quickly realized that if they were to keep this up indoors, the people working here would get hurt. So he leaped out the window, hoping that the monster would follow him.

Thankfully the monster did, and she was cackling about how Sailor Krypton couldn't run away.

A few more blasts were sent his way, and those he barely dodged in time. The resulting explosions seemed like they belonged in a Micheal Bay movie.

Yeah, it was most likely a good thing that he had chosen to take this outside. There was just no way the building would have survived that.

“Krypton Tiara Action!” He threw his weapon but the monster moved fast, so he was unable to hit his target.

“Damn it!” Clark cursed, as he moved out of the way of another explosive attack. He mentally willed his tiara to come back, and amazingly enough the glowing disc flew around to him like a boomerang.  
'hmm, I wonder...' Clark had an idea at that moment.

He threw the disc again, and of course the monster dodged that one as well.

“Ke ke ke ke ke! Just a one-trick pony, I see.... ye'll 'ever win 'hat way!” Flau taunted the male Sailor warrior, unaware that the tiara was flying at her from behind.

She screamed in shock once the disc hit her back....realizing her mistake all too late. Within moments she turned to dust.

Phlean clapped his hands as he walked into sight. “Well, that was quite a show. Clearly, you're not just a ordinary meteor mutant.... you're something more.”

Sailor Krypton braced himself for battle once more. “Who are you?”

“Just one of Zod's four generals. And I'm here to offer you a deal that you can't refuse.”

Clark scowled. “And that is?”

“Come join me, Sailor Krypton. I'm sure Zod would welcome you into his ranks. He has so much to offer to you, than this miserable little planet does. Think of all the unlimited power and wealth you would possess if you went to work for him!” Phlean said, as he threw his arms wide as to emphasize how much Zod would offer the Sailor Warrior.

Clark scoffed at this. Did this dude seriously think that something like this would sway him over to their side? “No way! I'm not going to let Zod take over the planet, no matter how much you offer me!”

Phlean narrowed his eyes. “Humph... fine, have it your way. Now you die.”

with that, he started hovering into the air, and sent a few blasts Sailor Krypton's way. 

Sailor Krypton super-sped out of the way, and then used the momentum to do a super jump. He re-appeared behind Phlean and brought his fists down at the general’s head hard. The impact sent the general flying into the ground.

Phlean actually hit the ground so hard that he formed a crater. He got up, sporting both a broken nose and jaw. He held on to his face, as he stared up at Sailor Krypton with a hateful expression.

It was just then that the other Sailor Warriors showed up.

“Stop right there!” Sailor Mercury said. She then looked at Clark. “Are you okay, Sailor Krypton?”

Phlean made a displeased noise, and quickly vanished into some sort of black hole portal.

“hey, get back here!” Sailor Mars said angrily, as he tried to run over in high heels. He wound up falling flat on his face. It was too late though, as Phlean had gotten away quickly.

Pete got up, and grumbled, “Whoever invented high heels was the most evil person ever. Seriously, how do you women move in those things? Oh man... I had to transform into a woman again, and the bad guy gets away?? That is such bullshit. For my troubles the least he could do is let me beat him up.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phlean sat in a chair facing Lionel Luthor and the Phantom Zone window, as Hamilton attended to his injuries.

The window seemed far more clear now, showing a man's distorted face. It was actually unnerving him, because Phlean wasn't sure if the news he brought them would land him in hot water.

Lionel Luthor frowned at the ex-policeman. “Your plan was going so well, and you even had help from our resident meteorologist here. What happened?”

Phlean tried to speak, but his broken jaw prevented him from doing so. He had to write it down instead. He then held up his notebook, which had large letters scrawled across it.

“Sailor Warriors. Sailor Krypton showed up and stopped me.” Hamilton read it aloud, and then frowned. “Sailor Krypton? What kind of name is that?”

There was a loud roar from the Phantom zone's window, which made all the human men in the room jump. Even Lionel Luthor seemed startled.

The distorted face in the window seemed furious, as it spewed forth alien gibberish.

Lionel Luthor was the only one who understood what Zod was screaming about. “What do you mean, the people who stopped you last time?”

Lionel's face paled slightly when Zod explained it to him.

“Sir, what is going on? What upset Zod so much that he would act up like this?” Steve Hamilton wondered.

Lionel turned to face his four generals. “It would seem that we now face a minor setback in our grand plan to resurrect the Earth Kingdom. It seems that the Sailor Warriors from the ancient Kryptonian Kingdom have been reborn on earth, and fights against us now.”

Dominic looked worried at this. “So what should we do now? We can't keep on collecting energy for Zod if they keep on showing up to kill off our Zoners!”

Nixon smirked. “Isn't it simple? All we have to do is find out who the Sailor Warriors are, and kill them! Then we can go ahead with the rest of our plan to free Zod.”

Dr. Hamilton looked thoughtful. “Reborn warriors, huh? I wonder if they're still aliens or if they're human beings with supernatural powers. It'd be wonderful if I could capture one of them in order to study them.”

The other generals looked slightly queasy at this, because they knew what the Meteorologist really meant by the word “study”. They saw what he had done to a few unfortunate meteor mutants at Bell Reeve, after all.

Zod said a few more alien words, and the four generals snapped to attention.

Lionel Luthor nodded at the Phantom Zone window, and turned to face his generals. “Zod wants me to inform you of a plan that the two of us have been working on for a while. We weren't going ahead with this plan until it was fully ready. But the appearance of the Sailor Warriors have forced us to speed things up somewhat.”

He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. “Have I ever told you men about the Silver Crystal? It was what the late Empress of the Krypton Kingdom used to seal Zod away. I was searching for it a while, and just recently I discovered that it had been broken up into different pieces. Those pieces are now called the stones of power.”

Lionel then started pacing, continuing with his explanation. “There is three stones of power... The fire crystal, the water crystal and finally the air crystal. The good news is, we can manage to find them by searching for the energy signatures that they give off. The bad news is, there's the chance that they may be hiding inside a living being who used to be alive during the time of the silver millennium but was reincarnated into this modern era. That means it could be any living thing on Earth...animal or human.”

“What happens when you find all three stones of power?” Hamilton asked.

“I have reason to believe that the Silver crystal will be reformed once I get all three stones of power back together. Once I have the silver crystal in my grasp, I'll have unlimited power and be able to release Zod from his prison!” Lionel explained. He then held up a black crystal shard. “This is where this shard comes into play. It's able to track the energies that only the stones of power can give off. Not only that, but it can safely extract the stones of power from a host body!”

Nixon frowned. “But what if the Sailor Warriors stop you?”

Lionel Luthor started pacing again. “Yes... they're certainly going to be a big problem. I'm going to have to assign you all different projects. Nixon, since your skill is mostly in gathering information it seems obvious to assign you the task in finding out the true identity of those Sailor Warriors. Steve Hamilton, you'll have to take over the energy gathering for Phlean since how he's too injured to continue right now. Dominic will use the black shard to search for the stones of power.”

The four generals nodded, and took this moment to leave.

Lionel then turned to face the Phantom zone window. He shook his head. “I can't believe that somebody from the Kryptonian royal family could still be alive today. I hope you're wrong about that, Zod.”


	7. The Stones of Power: The Air Crystal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pete tries to deal with the fact that he can transform into a woman... and his mother gets attacked! A Sailor Mars chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When it comes to the rainbow crystals Saga in Sailor Moon anime, it's hard to just pick three favorites! (Smallville only has three stones of power, after all!)  
>  For example, I really liked Sailor Mars' story where it turns out that her grandpa was one of the great youma, even though the Youma was my least favorite). I really loved the story with the artist turning into that angelic-looking youma by the name Binah, as seeing she was one of my most favorite Youma ever. So I decided to switch and use Binah instead of jiin (the grandpa monster), just do a smallville take on how that Sailor Moon ep would go if it was set in Smallville.  
>  It was also in this chapter that I decided that Hawk-people and other winged aliens used live on Uranus. Why not, it's supposedly the planet of the windy sky in Sailor Moon canon. And that just makes me think of flying... which leads me to think about winged people. :P
> 
> Enjoy the story!

It was weeks ever since the talk radio incident occurred, and nothing seemed to happen ever since then. So everything was back to normal. Back to normal for Smallville, anyway.

Pete couldn't help but wonder why his family hadn't moved away after the first signs of Smallville Craziness occurred around here. Then again, that could be explained away by the fact that the adults had a very select obliviousness to the weird going-on around here until it was pointed out to them.

Pete supposed that it wasn't THAT bad living here in Weridsville. The only time he had a problem with it was when he found himself dragged into those situations by the rest of the Torch crew. He often wondered why he didn't quit the Torch... he had joined only as a favor to both Chloe and Clark, back then when they had been short-staffed.

It hadn't been so bad at first, even if it was a little boring working for a school newspaper... but then Chloe had to push it to the extreme by going on what Pete often called “Scooby doo adventures”... due to the fact that their adventures seemed to follow the same formula that the TV show did.  
You know...hearing about some mysterious event that was scaring the Smallville residents, go investigate, get chased around by some mentor mutant. Then Lay out a trap for the mutant so that they could capture the person safely, and then suss out why the meteor mutant was acting up. The Mutant then gets sent to Belle Reeve, and everything goes back to normal.... until the next mutant.

Yep, the universe really had an twisted sense of humor when it decided that his life should be like a Scooby Doo parody. But the universe went too far when they basically turned him into a magical girl.

The worst thing? Pete secretly didn't mind. In fact when it first happened a part of him had been strangely aroused, which served to freak him out even more.

He was supposed to be the normal one in the group!

Chloe was the crazy chick who were obsessed with the supernatural, and Clark was obviously a meteor mutant himself even though everyone pretended not to notice. Clark couldn't lie or act his way out of a paper bag, so often Chloe and Pete had to cover up for him when his heroics got out of hand.  
Then there was Lex, the resident rich boy of Smallville High who inexplicably choose to do something mundane like work for the school newspaper.

So because of this Pete often felt it was up to him to be the normal one in the group... the one who would always bring reason and logic to balance out the crazy that the rest brought with them.  
that couldn't just happen at all if it turned out that deep down he was just as abnormal as everyone else in the Torch crew.

He had hoped that the arousal he felt when he discovered that he had transformed into a chick, was a total fluke. So he had secretly turned back into a woman in his bedroom to test if it was just a one-time thing. Unfortunately for him... when he saw himself (herself?) in the reflection he couldn't help but feel it again.

It brought forth too many ideas for him. Like the fact that he could watch himself as a woman in the mirror naked and do all sorts of things...

Pete just knew that wasn't normal. Sure, he could try to pass it off as it being a teenager... after all, at this age he could easily get turned on by almost anything thanks to hormones. But he didn't really know that for sure... after all it wasn't like any other guy could magically transform into women, right?

And he just knew that Chloe or the others would be intelligent enough to realize that he had suddenly developed a new kink—Magical Transformation. They wouldn't let him live it down if they ever found out!

So naturally he had to pretend that he was totally repulsed by the whole thing, and be twice the heterosexual man he was.

Oh god, why did the universe have such a twisted, cruel sense of humor? He was pretty sure the universe was basically laughing at him right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Seriously, Krypto actually went to my parents and blabbed to them about how I had to find the missing prince. Not only that but that I was supposed to fight monsters on a regular basis.” Clark griped to the others as they sat together at lunch time. “Now my parents are totally against me having to do anything with this! Krypto keeps on saying we should keep this thing a secret but he doesn't seem to be very good at keeping secrets.”

Chloe looked puzzled. “Why would your parents be against this, Clark? After all, they had no problems with you stopping meteor mutants while we were doing our thing together before all this happened...”

Clark squirmed in his seat. “They're actually not a big fan of me being part of the Scooby doo thing, but they tend to understand that I need to protect my friends when said friends insist on running headfirst into trouble...”

Lex nodded, and pondered the situation. “Not to mention that Meteor Mutants tend to be human beings... and tend to have human limits, even if they're super-powered. That falls into the realm of known things that they can deal with. Supernatural aliens on the other hand, is totally unknown territory for them... something that they might not be able to deal with. Honestly, I can see how they would be okay with you fighting mutants but not okay with you fighting aliens. They're just worried about their only son in that twisted hypocritical way.”

Clark smiled at that. “To be honest, I'm not a big fan of fighting the aliens myself. A part of me wanted to use my parents as a excuse for why I can't go off and save the world. Not to mention having to do it in bright red thigh-high boots? I really could do without that part!”

His smile faded, as he brought up some things that had been bothering him for a while. “But who else is going to do this besides us? So far we're the only ones that were willing to stand up to out-of-control mutants... didn't you find it weird how the police basically stay away until we had the whole situation in control? They didn't do anything for two days when that football coach with the fire ability lost his cool and went on a public rampage when our team lost the game against a rival town. I swear they would had let that coach burn down everything to the ground if it hadn't been for us!”

Chloe frowned. “Now that you mention it... there was some guys who kept on stopping me in the hallways during that time, and asked me if I was going to do something about that hot-headed coach. I thought they meant writing an expose or something...”

Pete shook his head. “Whoa, let's stop there. I know that this group developed something of an reputation as being a bunch of nosy, meddling kids in public. But I doubt that they seriously see us as some sort of superhero. Even before all of this magical transforming business started... which they don't know about!.... right?”

Lex smirked. “I think Pete's right in a way. I think they just see us as a group of eccentric kids who has no idea what a normal school newspaper is supposed to look like, what with all the bizarre things we tend to write about.”

Clark sighed, and then started griping about his dog problem again. “The way Krypto keeps on wanting to explain every little thing to anybody who interacts with him... the whole town might as well as know by now! Seriously, I think we need to hold an intervention for that dog and teach him how to keep a secret properly.”

Chloe nodded. “Agreed. I wouldn't mind having certain people like my dad know, but we have to be on the watch out for the enemy. If the town knows all about us, then the enemy will too....”

Pete frowned, and looked at Clark. “Where's Krypto? He hasn't been hanging out around school like usual...”

“Oh, he's currently staying at my parents' farm. He's still trying to convince my parents that I have a destiny to fight the aliens.” Clark answered with a roll of his eyes.

Pete couldn't help but smile slightly. “Well, as long as he isn't running around town blabbing about everything that happened. Why did he even talk to your parents in the first place?”

Clark then told him about how the dog thought that his parents would cause problems with his “duty”, especially if he had to go out late at night to stop an enemy. So apparently Krypto thought it would be only logical that his parents be brought into the information loop.

Lex nodded. “That does sound very logical. I just hope he doesn't think that ALL of our parents need to know... I'm definitely not telling my dad about any of this, like ever. He's way too obsessed when it comes to this sort of thing so it would just cause problems.”

Chloe perked up at this. This was something she had never heard before about Lionel Luthor. 

“What do you mean?”

Lex rolled his eyes, and started explaining. “My dad thinks I don't know... but the truth is that he's a part of some bizarre cult called Veritas or something like that. This cult believes that benevolent, powerful aliens will make contact with earth one day and that the Veritas group will be the one to make that happen. He was way into that stuff ever since I was born, and actually was the reason why he wasn't around much while I was growing up. I suspect he's still in contact with this cult... which is why I will never tell him anything about this. Can you imagine the trouble he would cause if he found out that there was actually aliens hanging out around here?”

Chloe frowned. “That's too great of a coincidence. You don't think this Veritas group and the Phantom Zone might be connected?”

Clark looked disturbed. “I can't believe your dad is into something that creepy! And he seemed so normal.... well, for a rich d-bag anyway.”

Lex shrugged at Chloe's question. “It's possible, but I don't think so. I actually met the Leader of Veritas at one of dad's parties once... or at least I think he was the leader. Some guy named Mr. Teague. My impression of him was that he was a really soppy guy. He truly believed that all aliens out there would be benevolent, all-knowing and powerful enough to end all suffering on earth. I don't think Verita's goal is to help aliens take over Earth. But I can consider the possibility that those Zoners might lie to the cult and take advantage of their naivety. Hence, another reason why I'm not going to tell my dad about any of this.”

Chloe was about to ask more questions, but the lunch bell rang, signaling the end of lunchtime.

Clark looked down at his lunch, thoroughly dismayed. “Great. We were so busy talking we didn't even get to eat our lunch!”

Everyone looked down at their plate of runny mashed potatoes, five days old meatloaf, and soggy vegetables as provided by the lunch cafeteria.

“I don't consider that a great loss...” Pete remarked, making a face as he got up to toss his lunch out.

Clark was thoroughly scandalized at the thought of anybody wasting food like that. “you can't just throw it away like that. I can eat it all quickly before class!”

Lex smirked at Clark's reaction, and he got up as well. “I need to get to my classes. See ya!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a short argument with Clark over the wasted lunch food, Pete walked out of the lunch room and down the hallway.

Strangely enough he was feeling good today. He thought it was because of the way Lex outed his father as some creepy cultist who worshiped aliens. That was apparently just the thing Pete needed to feel like the most normal one again.

After all, his parents weren't in some weird-ass cult that sounded like it was a Scientology knock-off. Pete's parents was way too practical and level-headed for any kind of worship, even if the family did occasionally go to church. Even if they found out that aliens existed, they wouldn't automatically get on their knees and start worshiping.

Man, you just had to feel sorry for Lex... his dad was too kooky for words!

Pete started chuckling loudly to himself, unaware that he was getting some stares from passerbys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere, Dominic was busy walking down main street with a frown on his face. He was holding the black shard and discreetly scanning for the energy signature that came from an stone of power.

The townsfolk who saw him simply assumed that he was out on an errand for Lionel Luthor, since they all knew Dominic as Lionel's errand boy when the man himself was too busy to fetch things personally. They saw that he was holding some strange crystal and looking about as if he was searching for something... but they choose to ignore it. What he was up to was none of their business, after all. Plus, they didn't want to piss off Lionel Luthor especially since he had given much of his money into restoring this town back to it's former glory after the meteor shower.

Dominic was basically hoping that the stones of power could be found here, since everything else seemed to be centered in Smallville thanks to the meteor shower. But the way things were looking, it might be that the stones of power were actually scattered all over the world. Dominic wasn't looking toward to traveling all over the world... he wasn't a big fan of jetlag, especially when he had a limited amount of time to look for the stones.

Dominic sighed, and turned around to walk away in the opposite direction. He almost bumped into a attractive-looking woman with dark skin. In that moment his dark crystal shard started glowing.

“Oh, pardon me.” The woman smiled at the near collision, and stepped around him. She then moved towards one of the stores on main street.

Dominic turned around and stared after her. If he recalled correctly, this woman was Mrs. Ross, the local judge of Smallville's courthouse. So this Mrs. Ross was actually carrying a Stone of Power inside her? 

He smiled, glad that he didn't have to travel outside of Smallville after all.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pete had wanted to meet up with others at the Talon coffee house, like they usually did after school. He wanted to keep a part of their daily route normal after all that happened, but it wasn't meant to be. 

Chloe said something about wanting to look into the Veritas alien-worship cult, since it sounded suspicious as heck. Apparently she wanted to make sure that it was only a coincidence that Lex's father was in the cult and nothing more. That girl... once something aroused her curiosity she was like a bulldog that refused to let go until she had all of the facts.

Lex wanted to get home early to take care of his mother, and Clark cited that he had a lot of farm work to catch up on. Clark also muttered something about how his parents wanted to keep an close eye on him.

So with that he wound up going home instead, much to his disappointment. He thought about going to the Talon anyway, just to chat up Lana and get to know her. but after some consideration he decided against it. The others didn't really decide yet if they wanted her to join the Sailor Warrior group for good, anyway. So what would had been the point?

At any rate it turned out that it was a good thing that Pete got home earlier than he normally did.... because some creep was attacking his mother!

Pete saw them at a distance.... His mother looked terrified as this man grabbed her arm, and tried to drag her away from the house. Pete instinctively rushed over to stop the guy, and that was when he recognized the guy.

It was Dominic, Lionel Luthor's aide! But why was he attacking his mom?

“Let me go! Why are you doing this?” Mrs. Ross snapped, trying not to show her fear at Dominic's unusual behavior.

“I told you, Mr. Luthor needs you.... or to be more specifically what's inside you!” With that Dominic jabbed the large black shard he was carrying into Mrs. Ross's stomach.

“Mom!” Pete cried out, as he failed to get to them in time. All he could do was catch her mother as she fell over backwards. The dark shard was jutting out of her stomach, but strangely enough there was no blood.

Mrs. Ross didn't respond, and just started upwards at the open sky with a shocked expression on her face. Her body started twitching, and that was when the dark shard started glowing brightly.  
That was when her body started levitating into the sky!

Mrs. Ross glowed brightly as her body shape started changing. But that wasn't the only thing changing... her brown skin was transforming into that of a sparkling crystal-like skin, and wings were sprouting out of her back. Her black hair transformed into long, silky navy-colored hair. The clothes were the last thing to change, as they transformed into an angelic-looking blue robe. The stone of air hung about her neck like a expensive-looking necklace.

Dominic stared up at her with a shocked expression, not having expected this. He thought that the stone of power would pop right out of her body and that would be it.

“What the hell did you do to my mother?!” Pete yelled, growing more upset by the minute. He had heard of people accidentally turning into mentor mutants... but this was the first time that somebody purposely turned another people into meteor mutants.

“I... I don't know! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!” Dominic stammered.

That only served to piss Pete off even more. He got up, his body practically vibrating with tense, angry energy. Pete then walked over, his expression clearly signaling his intention to beat the man to a messy pulp until Dominic gave him the answers he wanted.

Dominic let out an audible gulp, and started running for his life. He might have powers of his own, but he didn't have the stomach to take on an angry teenage boy AND a winged meteor mutant. He didn't care if the other generals thought him a coward... he just wasn't the fighting type!

He then teleported away before Pete could catch up to him.

“Damn!” Pete growled, both shocked and frustrated at the fact that Dominic had the ability to disappear like that. He then turned his attention to his mother, who were still floating in the air.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mrs. Ross remembered everything.... about her former life in the Silver Millennium.

Back then, she had been called Binah, and belonged to the Sephirot race who lived on Uranus the windy planet.

Binah was a noble lady who were utterly royal to the Empress Lara Lor-Van and had been one of her most trusted advisors, especially when it came to dishing out judicial justice on lowly criminals. In her spare time, she was an artist who often created breath-taking sculptures and painted scenery.

Her eyes watered slightly when she recalled the tragic destruction of not only the Krypton Kingdom but her planet as well. She mentally cursed Zod for everything he had done.... and vowed that he would pay for what he had done to her people.

She suddenly remembered what Lara had told her to do in this kind of situation. It was way back when Zod had been on a rampage that first time around, and so Lara had feared that he would come for the Silver Crystal due to the fact that it was the most powerful object in the solar system.  
In the event that Zod proved to be unstoppable, Lara would do the correct thing and shatter the crystal into pieces. However, Zod could easily merge the pieces back together so therefore those pieces had to be protected by Lara's most trusted and powerful allies.

She looked down at her necklace, which held the crystal of air. This meant the crystal was shattered, and with Lara dead it was up to her to protect it.

“Mom? Are you okay up there?” Binah was startled out of her thoughts when the teenage boy called up to her with a very worried expression on his face.

'His name is Pete Ross', she recalled her life as a human... and how she had been so happy here in Smallville with her husband, and all of her children. She even had been content with her job as a judge.

Binah shook her head, ridding herself of such thoughts. She couldn't go back to the way she used to be! Sure, she loved her human family very much... but she had a important mission to do. The fate of Earth depended on her... if she didn't do her duty, everyone on earth inducing her son Pete Ross would die.So it was for her human family's own good that she had to leave them until her mission was done.

“Mom? Say something! Anything....” Pete pleaded, as he tried to jump upwards towards the hovering angelic figure and catch her by the feet.

Binah's wings flapped, and she took off into the sky. She closed her eyes as not to let her tears fall, and clasped her hands over her ears to block out her son's frantic voice.

She disappeared into the clouds.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe actually managed to find the Veritas Cult's website online, and were busy reading it.

“Geez, in this day and age even those cults have their own websites...” Chloe muttered to herself, as she read about the cult's beliefs regarding aliens.

Lex was right, the cult's religion was a highly naive one. It didn't even take into account that aliens could be just like humans in the sense that there was both good and bad ones. It was like a innocent child who thought that she could trust all adults, and thus saw nothing wrong with getting into vans with total strangers. It would be highly disastrous for this cult if they ever got in touch with Zod....

No wonder why Lex didn't want to tell his dad about the Sailor Warrior gig.

Chloe paused in her mouse-scrolling to think about that part, and she frowned. To be honest, Lionel didn't seem like the type to be involved with such a harmless, innocent-sounding cult. For one thing, Lionel Luthor was something of a bastard even if he did help the town recover after the meteor shower. He wasn't the type to blindly trust anybody, and from her few interactions with him he seemed to believe the worst of everyone.

So that basically left two possibilities:  
1) Lionel Luthor was basically so jaded about people on earth and desperately wanted to believe that there was god-like aliens out there who could save humanity from itself?

2)Or there was more to this cult than this website suggested.... something more sinister.

She would have to dig deeper than this to get to the real story behind this cult!

At that moment the cellphone rang and derailed her train of thought.

“Hello?” Chole answered her cellphone, and then flinched when Pete started screaming in her ear. She quickly moved her cellphone away from her ear. “Hold on, don't yell so loudly. What's wrong?”

Pete started blabbing incoherently on the other end, his voice growing more frantic by the second. Chloe didn't really catch the whole thing, but she managed to decipher a few key phrases.

“Wait a minute, you said your mom transformed into a winged meteor mutant because she got attacked?”

“Come on, you gonna help me track down my mom... she took to the sky and I can't see her anymore.... she's pretty upset right now... I don't want anybody else to hurt her!” Pete pleaded over the phone.

Chloe frowned. She had never heard Pete sound this upset before. “Okay, calm down... I'll be with you soon.”

She then got out of her chair, and transformed into Sailor Mercury. She then jumped out of a window that had been open in the Torch office, and ran into the distance. She then started leaping high into the air to move more quickly.... She wasn't as fast as Clark this way but she was able to get around quickly without a car all the same.

This was another perk of being Sailor Mercury. Apparently she could run and leap to great heights as if the Earth had the Moon's gravity. She had discovered this when she ran experiments with her abilities late at night to see what else she was capable of. Having a holographic super-computer was cool, but it didn't really help in combat... the same thing with her bubble-fog ability. Hopefully with some training she would be able to come up with a better way to combat the enemy.

Within 20 minutes, she arrived at Pete's house. Pete was standing outside looking up at the sky with a worried expression on his face. He spun around when he noticed that somebody was coming, and he looked relived when he saw that it was Sailor Mercury.

“So what happened? You weren't very clear over the phone.” Mercury asked.

Pete then told her the whole story, ending with his mother flying off into the sky.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at this. Everyone in town knew Dominic, due to the fact that he often did errands for Mr. Luthor when the older Luthor couldn't be bothered to do it himself. This event and the Veritas Cult had to be involved somehow.... this couldn't be just a coincidence!

Chloe opened up her holographic computer, and multiple holo-screens popped up around her. “I'm scanning for your mother's energy signature.... Maybe we can track where she went.”

one of the holo-screen started bleeping, showing a glowing dot over a map of Smallville.

Pete looked at the holographic map, and his face lit up. “I know where she's going! She's going to the forest behind the Luthor Mansion!”

Chloe then told him, “We can't get there in time if we use your family's truck. You'll have to transform and follow me on feet.... mainly because it seems like we're faster than a car in our Sailor warrior form.”

Pete transformed without a single word of protest, and they were off towards the forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dominic paced around the forest as he was trying not to panic too much.

Shit, shit... how could he had been so stupid? He shouldn't had been so bold enough to attempt taking the air crystal from Mrs. Ross in front of her own house. Now there was witnesses like that boy.

And on top of it, Mrs.Ross had transformed into some kind of creature... Mr. Luthor never told him this would happen!

He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. 

Okay, first things first. He had to remember that he wasn't a normal human anymore... he had powers! He had to overcome his distaste for fighting, and take on that monster who used to be Mrs. Ross. He would take that air crystal even if he ended up black and blue all over.

Then he would have to take care of witnesses like that Pete Ross so that nobody would find out about him or Mr.Luthor. His master Lionel completely desisted any loose ends that could potentially get him in trouble... and it was Dominic's duty to ensure that no loose ends existed.

Dominic smiled as an idea came to him. He would kill both Mrs. Ross and Pete and plant them somewhere else where they would be found by the police. Mrs. Ross's body was completely mutated..so maybe they would just assume that poor pete had been attacked by a deranged meteor mutant and decided to go down fighting. Mrs. Ross would be presumed missing and then dead if they couldn't ID the mutated body as Mrs. Ross. None of it would ever lead back to Lionel Luthor!

He smirked, feeling more like his usual confident self now that he had a game plan.

However, he didn't count on Mrs. Ross finding him first instead of the way around... for the winged woman appeared suddenly in front of him!

“Damn!” Dominic explained aloud as Ross/Binah swooped down from the sky.

“Did you think you could run away, foul creature? I can track your corrupt energy for miles!” The winged woman growled. She then grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him off the ground.

“Now you will tell me where Zod is hiding...or else!” Binah demanded of the man, so intent on getting revenge against Zod that she didn't notice that the man was doing something with his hands.

Dominic blasted her with dark energy soon as he lifted his hands towards her, and she was sent flying backwards into the ground.

He then chuckled. “Well, you certainly saved me the trouble of finding you again. Now, hand over the stone of power!”

Binah then floated upwards and flapped her wings. The shed feathers from her wings floated around Dominic, and then started spinning in midair. Binah then replied: “You're a fool if you think you're a match for the likes of me. You may had the power to resurrect me, but obviously you didn't know that my power to draw things out of thin air is unmatchable. You shall never take the air crystal away from me.”

With that her hands made a weaving motion. The floating, spinning feathers seemed to be drawing glowing outlines in the air..... it made for a very surreal effect, especially when the lines became solid. Binah had drawn large boulders, and now they were crashing down on Dominic!

Dominic managed to move out of the way in time, but only barely. He blasted some more dark energy her way, but Binah actually manged to draw herself a magic shield which deflected his attack.

She flapped her wings again, creating more loose feathers which now had Dominic surrounded. The feather started drawing glowing outlines again.... this time a giant spiderweb which had Dominic bound up in a cocoon that left his face exposed.

“Shit!” Dominic cursed as he tried to get free. He even tried teleporting out of the cocoon, but apparently it dampened his abilities. He couldn't get away!

Binah smirked. This man was so utterly pathetic that it wasn't funny.

“Now tell me Zod's location.” she demanded.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pete and Chloe managed to get there in time to see Binah/Mrs.Ross trap Dominic in that gigantic web. They stopped behind some trees, just out of Binah's sight.

Pete had been doubtful at first about their Sailor Warrior forms being able to move fast enough to catch up with his mother, but Chloe had been right all along. This was something that the dog hadn't told him about at all, and it made him wonder what else they were actually capable of.

To his surprise, Sailor Jupiter appeared right behind them.

“What are you doing here?” Pete wondered.

Lana looked sheepish. “Well... I saw you running towards the forest and I thought I'd follow you to see what was happening? I know you guys haven't officially welcomed me into this group yet but you might need back up.”

Sailor Krypton and Krypto appeared too as well. Sailor Krypton then looked at his friends gathered here and asked, “What's going on? Krypto said that he detected high amounts of unusual energy happening around here.”

Pete looked worried. “Guys.... before you do something like attack the winged mutant over there... I have to tell you that it's my mom. Dominic attacked her, and turned her into a mutant! But I don't want you guys to hurt her at all.”

Lana looked shocked at this. Lionel Luthor's assistant was a meteor mutant who could turn other people into mentor mutants? That was a new one to her... but maybe she was still missing out on some critical information here...

Krypto sniffed at the air. He then smiled when he saw Binah, recognizing her immediately.

“She's not a mentor mutant. I recognize her.... she was Empress Lara Lor-Van's advisor in judicial-related matters and a most trusted confidant of the royal family.” The dog told the group.

“WHAT? But I saw my mom turn into her! How can that be?” Pete replied, feeling somewhat shocked by this revelation.

“So... does this mean that Sailor Mars' mother was an alien all along?” Lana asked, still not quite understanding what was happening here.

Krypto then told the group: “Do you remember when I told you that the Prince of Planet Krypton would be reincarnated as a normal human being? Well... he wasn't the only one to get reincarnated. Empress Lara wanted everyone who had died that horrible day to have another chance at an happy life. So she must had made it so that everyone who were very close to her would be reincarnated right here in Smallville. Whatever Dominic did to her, it must had caused her to revert back to her old body that she used to have before she was reborn as a human.”

Sailor Mars looked thoroughly floored by this revelation. “Does this mean I'm half-alien?” She/he wondered.

The dog looked at Sailor Mars/Pete as if he was stupid. “You do realize that your mother was a normal human being when she gave birth to you, right? You are a pure human being, so the fact that your mother had an soul that used to live on a different planet doesn't even matter.”

Sailor Krypton shifted uneasily. “This is very interesting and all... but shouldn't we be doing something about Pete's mother instead of standing around talking about her background?”

“Krypton! Use code names!” Sailor Mars hissed under his/her breath, as he shot a look towards Lana in order to get his point across that there was still people who didn't know that Pete Ross was Sailor Mars.

But the damage was already done. Sailor Jupiter was now looking at Sailor Mars with a surprised expression on her face. “Pete? As in Pete Ross? My god, I didn't recognize you in that get up at all.”

Sailor Mars colored slightly. But he got over his embarrassment and got straight to the point.  
“The reason why we're just standing around talking is... well, it's clear that Dominic is a bad guy because he attacked my mom! But we also need to stop my mom from hurting him... but I also don't want us to hurt her! So we need to come up with a game plan.”

Chloe had been scanning Binah and Dominic the entire time the group had been talking, trying to figure out how to stop both Pete's mother and Dominic. and finally she spoke up.

“I've been motioring her lifesigns and her energy levels... and it seems that she's growing more powerful by the minute. If this continues she could very well become a threat to everyone in Smallville. I'm sorry Pete... but it looks like we might have to get into a fight with her if we can't reason with her. But why don't we go out there and try to talk to her?”

Krypto nodded. “We used to know each other very well during the time of the Silver Millennium. She should recognize me... that should help calm her down.”

With that the dog moved out towards Binah, and the rest followed.

Pete continued to look worried, because he didn't like how Chloe said that they would have to fight her if his mother didn't cooperate with them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Binah was torturing Dominic for information on Zod when she heard somebody call her name.

She spun around, still on high alert for any enemies. But to her surprise, it was a old friend... one she hadn't seen in so long!

“Krypto! How can this be... I thought everyone died a long time ago! Or did you get reincarnated like I did too?” Binah exclaimed with delight at seeing the familiar white dog. Her eyes widened as she noticed the people who were coming out into the forest clearing. and even though she didn't recognize the rest of the Sailor Warriors she could still recognize the Kryptonian Prince.

Her eyes swelled up with tears of happiness and relief when she realized this meant that not all of the Kryptonian royal family had died out... that some part of the Krypton Kingdom still lived on.

“Binah. I'll have to ask you to stand down, and stop attacking this man.” Krypto replied, relieved that Binah recognized him after all.

“Help! This crazy monster is attacking me for no good reason! Please help me...” Dominic pleaded with the group of Sailor Warriors, since he saw this as opportunity to play the innocent victim and cover his tracks all the same time.

“He's lying. I saw him jab that black crystal thing into my mother's stomach.” Sailor Mars muttered under his breath, knowing that Sailor Krypton would hear him.

Binah just looked surprised that Krypto would come to the defense of somebody who were obviously working for Zod. “But Krypto, he's working for Zod... I just know it! Why else would he collect the stones of power? This human was trying to take the crystal of air from me!”

Krypto suddenly remembered the emergency contingencies that Empress Lara had put in place during the first battle against Zod. “Oh... that's right. You were actually selected by the Empress herself as a guardian for one of the stones of power.... Now it all makes sense!”

Chloe relaxed slightly once she saw that Mrs.Ross had no intention of attacking them at all, and decided to take this opportunity to question Dominic himself.

“Why did you transform Mrs. Ross? And why are you after this stone of power? Just what are you up to??” Sailor Mercury demanded to know.

Dominic mentally groaned. Of course they would find out what happened to Mrs. Ross... although how they found out things like that he would never know. 

He decided to stick to his guns and continue playing the innocent victim. 

“I didn't know that would happen to her, honest! When I was given the black crystal I was told that it would safely extract the stones of power from people without hurting them. I never wanted to hurt anybody, honest! I don't know what's going on and why the stones of power even is so important at all.” He told the one in the blue Sailor uniform.

Sailor Mercury raised her eyebrows. “Mr. Lionel Luthor didn't tell you what was going on here? That's surprising, since I hear he always tells you everything...”

Dominic bristled, and did his best to steer the topic away from his master. “Mr. Luthor has nothing to do with this! You're sorely mistaken if you think that I work only for him. Yes, I'm loyal to him but I will also do odd jobs for other people if they pay me enough, and as long as it doesn't interfere with my duties regarding Mr. Lionel Luthor.”

“I see... and who is the employer who told you to collect the stones of power?”

“I don't know,” Dominic lied. “Everything was done over the phone, and he didn't really give a name at all... all I know is that he's very insanely rich. Which was the only reason why I was even willing to do this in the first place...”

“Really.” Mercury was highly skeptical, since she could sense that he was only giving her partial truths and full-out lying in other areas. She suspected that Dominic at least had a inking of who he was actually working for. She tried to test out her theory. “So you wouldn't be working for the Veritas Cult?”

Dominic was shocked that they knew of the cult... the local public didn't even know about it! He quickly turned his expression into an neutral one. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

However it was too late to hide it in those few seconds because Sailor Mercury had noticed his surprise at the mention of Vertias.

Sailor Mercury couldn't help but smirk slightly. Dominic was definitely the type who were bad at playing poker. He had just confirmed that the cult might be working with Zod. Even if that was bad news. But at least having this information was a good thing... it was better than being in the dark!

She turned around to see if the others had been listening, and sighed in annoyance when she saw that they weren't. The rest of them were standing around the altered Mrs.Ross as she told them everything she knew.

“So she split the crystal up into different pieces to keep it safe away from the hands of Zod. But why didn’t she just destroy the crystal parts completely instead? Then no enemy would had been able to get their mitts on it in the first place.” Sailor Krypton wondered.

Binah started explaining why.  
“Because the Silver Crystal is not only a source of power but it's a family heirloom that is supposed to help enhance and control the natural powers that the Royal family has. It would be disastrous if the crystal was to get destroyed... for any any of the surviving royal family would be unable to control their powers. They could accidentally hurt the ones around them without even meaning to. Can you imagine how that could be the Royal family's greatest fear?” 

Clark grew quiet, as he recalled all the nightmares he sometimes had after one of his new powers developed. In those nightmares he would accidentally kill his own family and friends with the new power he recently acquired at the time. The worst ones had been the heat vision so far.... he had actually woken up screaming from the nightmare.

“Yeah, I think I can relate to that.” He replied quietly.

“Enough with this! Mo—Uh, Mrs. Ross.... can you find a way to change back to your normal form?” Sailor Mars demanded to know, still looking worried as heck.

Binah sighed. “Only the one who can control the Moon staff of Krypton can change me back to normal. Besides, I don't want to change back to normal as long as Zod is still out here somewhere. My pride would never allow you to fight by yourselves!”

“But that could take forever! What about your family back home?? Don't you care about them?” Mars cried out. Tears formed in Sailor Mar's eyes and threatened to fall.

Binah looked away. “I don't like it myself... I was actually happy as a normal human being. But now that I've regained my memories, I don't know how I could go back to being a normal human being. I wouldn't be very happy if I knew what was happening now but were forced to sit at home doing nothing! No.... the only way I would be happy is if I knew that Zod was dead for sure!”

Krypto then took this chance to suggest something. “Mars... why don't you use your psychic abilities to link up with Binah? Show her why it's important that she returns back to the way she was.”

Sailor Mars blinked at this. “Oh right.... I suppose it's just like my fire attacks... all I do is focus on doing it?”

Krypto nodded. He then looked at Binah. “Please make an connection with Mars here.”

Binah sniffed. “I don't see how she could change my mind, but okay...”

With that, Both Binah and Sailor Mars started holding hands. Mars closed her eyes, and all of a sudden she felt a surge go though her body!

She opened her eyes, and found herself elsewhere.

Pete was no longer Sailor Mars but himself.... and apparently standing on some kind of floating island in the sky. The sky was a weird shade of yellowish-blue tint, and the wind was constantly howling all over the place.

He wasn't alone there, for the place was completely populated full of winged people. They had skin-tones ranging from crystal-colored to the more “normal” flesh-colored tone, and were dressed similarly to Binah.

“What you're seeing is actually my memories of the planet Uranus, before it got transformed into a gas planet by Zod.” Binah's voice became sad and started quivering. “So many lives lost that day.... not even the Hawk people from the Thanagar continent had any chance of fighting back. And they were the greatest military force that our planet had to offer!”

At that moment Pete could feel all of Binah's emotions wash over him. Grief, pain, anger.... and the need for vengeance.

Pete blinked back tears that had been caused by Binah's strong show of emotion. “I see... this is why you want Zod dead so badly. But... I have to say, if you're going straight to him just because you want revenge, would you not be walking into his trap?”

Pete then sent his mother some thoughts about how anger could lead her to making tragic mistakes, such as failing to protect the stone of air while she was hellbent on seeking vengeance.

He then took the chance to open up to her, and showed her his memories. Of how he had been with the Torch crew rounding up out-of-control mutants with Clark at first. And how they had all became Sailor Warriors together in order to save the Earth.

“Let us take over your duty instead. We know what we're doing, so you don't have to worry about Zod getting away with killing your people.”

Binah blinked back her tears upon realizing that her human son had unwittingly took on the same role she used to have in the Silver millennium. Pete were close to Prince Kal-el (Clark) the same way she had been with the Empress. He often gave him advice on many things and loyally stuck with him and the group even when he thought they were unnecessarily risking their lives for a good story.

Seems that her human family took on many of her traits despite being human beings...Pete was truly her son regardless of what species she currently was now.

She started chuckling softly, sending a strong feeling of affection towards Pete. “Krypto should really have given you the power to transform into Sailor Uranus instead of Sailor Mars. You should be representing my people, not the people of Mars. That way if you were to kill Zod, he would know the true fury of Uranus.”

Pete smiled. “I guess so. But to be fair to the dog, I don't think he knew that my mother's soul originally came from Uranus. That's actually something I never thought I would ever say in my entire life.” He chuckled slightly, and then grew somber again. “So... does this mean you'll step down and let me handle it?”

“Yes, as long as you swear to me that you will fight to the bitter end, and ensure that Zod will never again harm another living being again. Swear to me that you will stand with others and the Prince of Krypton forever for as long as you can.” Binah demanded of Pete.

Pete nodded. “Yes, I swear to all of that. Zod will never know what hit him until it's too late!”

Binah mentally embraced her human son. “I'm so proud of you for following in my footsteps. So be it, I shall step down now.”

The windy world shifted, and Sailor Mars found himself/herself standing back in the forest clearing.

Sailor Krypton now had a staff that was topped off with a Crescent moon, and the dog was explaining to him on how to use it. “It even can return all meteor mutants back to their normal selves!” the dog told him.

“Why does Clark get all the cool stuff?” Chloe couldn't help but wonder aloud, “Krypto, I want more gadgets too!”

Binah went over to the dog, and removed her necklace which held the crystal of air. “I'm giving you this for safekeeping, since I'm now ready to return to my human self.”

She dropped the crystal at the dog's feet, and then stepped back away from the group. She then nodded at Sailor Krypton, giving him the go ahead to go though with it.

Sailor Krypton nodded back, and he started twirling his long staff around. The crescent moon at the top started glowing brightly. “Healing escalation!”

The yellow energy engulfed Binah, and she could feel herself going back to being Mrs. Abigail Ross again. She found herself yelling “Refresh!” for some strange reason before passing out.

Sailor Mars rushed over to catch her mother before she hit the ground. She checked her over, and then looked up at his friends with a relived expression. “She's okay.... she's back to normal!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
An hour later, everyone was at the Rosses' house hanging out in Pete's room. 

“After all that, She remembers nothing?” Lana Lang wondered.

“Sailor Krypton's wand has the side effect of erasing your short-term memory after it purifies you. It was just as well, I doubt she would had been happy after remembering her past life. Remembering the total destruction of a home-world and your people's death would traumatize anybody.” Krypto replied.  
“At least it's nice to know that Binah has a happy life in her human reincarnation as Mrs.Ross.”

Pete started grumbling, “I just can't believe we weren't able to put Dominic away for what he did to my mom! I don't care if he was apparently some clueless mook getting paid by some mysterious cult, I still want him to pay in some way for what he did!”

Chloe sighed. “Yeah, he should go to jail for what he did... but what were we supposed to tell the police? We start off telling them that Dominic attacked your mom with some kind of dark crystal, which your mom doesn't remember at all. We also have no evidence that any of it even happened at all. They would definitely lock us up in belle reeve instead of jailing Dominic over that.”

“Not to mention that Mr. Luthor owns half the town, and Dominic is known as his right hand. Who would want to jail Dominic if it meant making Mr. Luthor upset?” Lana pointed out.

Pete growled at that.

Clark, in an attempt to cheer his friend up then said, “Well, we know who he is, where he lives... so we'll be able to keep a very close eye on him and make sure he never does it again. Come to think of it, we could ask Lex to spy on him!”

Krypto made a whining noise at this. “Um... about that. Are you sure we can trust Lex Luthor? I mean, based on the information that Chloe gathered it seems that the Veritas cult is very closely tied with Zod. And Lex's father is in that cult.... how can we know that Lex is loyal to our cause instead of theirs?”

Clark gaped at his dog. “What? Don't be ridiculous! Lex would never willingly take part in helping aliens conquer the world. It's like, against his nature or something. Besides, he grew up being friends with me and Pete... so we know all each other very well. Right, Pete?” With that he looked at Pete with a pleading expression.

“Hm?” Pete were caught off guard when Clark turned to him, but he was quick on the uptake. “Oh yeah... not to mention Lex basically hates his father. His dad's kind of an neglectful asshole... he's never around when Lex needs him. And the few times when they do spend time together, his dad would basically tell Lex that he was a worthless person and not much value as a son.”

Krypto pondered this. “So there's no chance that Lex would help his father in an attempt to win his father's affection?”

Clark chuckled. “No way! If he needed parental affection, the one person he got it from was his mother. Remember, Pete? Back then when his mother wasn't in that comatose state he used to be such a momma's boy. He wasn't even embarrassed to have his mother hug him in public like other boys would be. He just hugged her right back and didn't care if anybody saw.”

Pete nodded. “Yeah, I remember. I used to tease him over it.”

Clark grew somber. “Anyway... Lex hates his father too much to even care about what Lionel is doing at the moment. He's been funneling most of his energy into taking care of his mother since his father refuses to be in the same room as she is.”

Chloe smiled. “You know, Clark's earlier suggestion was a very good one. Krypto, wouldn't it be more fair to test Lex's loyalty by having him spy on his father and Dominic? That way if the information turns out to be legit then we have a way to catch this evil cult off guard before they even make any more moves. Come on, having a man on the inside would do wonders for us!”

The dog sighed. “I don't know... but I suppose it's better than waiting around for them to make the next move.”

Chloe grinned. “Great! Just let me dial his number...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dominic was hiding out in an broken-down, abandoned house on the edge of town. He curled up in a dark corner, and he was fretting over his failed mission.

Lionel was going to do worse than tan his hide. He could even hear Lionel's angry, screaming voice already.

He vividly visualized how this scene would go:

_Lionel towering over Dominic as his brown eyes glowed red with anger. His face was distorted with fury, as he screamed at his cowering servant._

_“What were you thinking?! You went into there with no game plan at all. You didn't even think to disguise yourself so that nobody would recognize you or link your activities back to us. You acted like the biggest moron ever who didn't know the meaning of the word discreet!”_

_“B-but sir... I did my best to act like I was just some dumb mook who were working for somebody else besides you. And I think they believed me.” Dominic pleaded his case. “Although they somehow knew about Veritas and thought I was working for them...”_

_Lionel Luthor became very still. “How would they know? How?! Damnit, I've been a part of that Cult for a long time... if the sailor warriors find out that out then they'll eventually figure out everything...”_

_Lionel then started circling around his loyal servant like a Lion with his prey. “I'm sorry, but I'll have to punish you with Eternal Sleep.”_

Dominic started trembling. “Isn't that what you did to your own wife, when she found out about your plans to conquer the earth?”  
He really didn't want to become a comatose victim!

Dominic stood up, horrified by the mental scene that he had constructed. He was utterly royal to his master... but Lionel could be so cruel sometimes. And it would be just like him to do something like that.

In order to avoid such a fate, he would just have to grab the other two stones of power to make up for that one loss. Maybe Lionel wouldn't kill or put him in eternal sleep if he managed to do that.

Yeah, maybe.


	8. The stones of power: The water crystal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do a chapter with Game Crane Joe, as seeing his Youma form was my second favorite in the Rainbow crystals Saga. But I also wanted to do those little moments that just kind of expanded upon the Torch Crew and Lana's relationships. have Chloe build upon her friendship with Lana since they had no reason to hang out previously....

Everyone was sitting around in the Torch Office, where Pete was recounting everything that had happened the night before with his mother for Lex's benefit.

“Clark was able to return her back to normal.... that was the good news. But the bad news were that Dominic got away with it. We couldn't pin anything on him!” Pete finished his tale.

Lex shook his head. “Man... that sounds really unbelievable. I wish I had been there to see it happen.” He then smirked. “There's a joke somewhere in there about your mom being from Uranus... I'm not sure if I should even go there, because it would be too easy to make such a vulgar joke...”

Pete's eyebrows twitched at this. “Don't even go there, dude. Not unless you want me to punch you.”

Chloe cleared her throat. “Anyway, that's why we need you to keep an eye on your father and Dominic. Think you can do it for us?”

Lex nodded. “I guess I should had known better than to think that my father wouldn't be involved somehow. He always sticks his mitts into everything. Although it could be possible that it's only Dominic this time...hopefully.”

Krypto cocked his head at this. “You don't seem too horribly surprised by this at all. I was expecting some half-denials about how your father couldn't possibly be involved.”

Lex sighed. “Yeah, I hope that my father has nothing to do with this at all. But If I have to be perfectly honest, I know my own father way too well to assume otherwise. At best, chances are that he could be an unwitting participant who were only doing the crystal-collecting bit because it benefits him in some way. Worst case scenario, he's fully aware of what's going on and is actually vying for a position of power in Zod's new world order. You see, my father's always been obsessed with having power.”

Lana shook her head. “I'm the one who can't believe it, actually. I mean, Mr. Luthor doesn't seem like the type to side with some world-conquering alien, you know? It just feels unbelievable somehow....especially since how he was always so helpful to everyone in town. He even helped save the Talon and the flower shop when they had been damaged in the meteor shower. Without his influence, I'm not sure if Aunt Nell would be able to keep them open all those years ago.”

Lex couldn't help but laugh at this. “Yeah, well... you're not the one who lives with him on a regular basis. Trust me, he only did that to amass power here in Smallville... he wouldn't have done it otherwise. If he was such a sweet, nice guy like you said he wouldn't abandon his comatose wife or even fail to get her proper medical care.” He said the last part rather bitterly.

Lana couldn't help but feel awkward at this, because she didn't know how to respond to that. She then glanced at the others to see if they were feeling as awkward as she was.

Pete looked uncomfortable, Chloe was just looking at Lex with sympathy and Clark....

Well, Clark was looking at Lex with puppy-like eyes.

“How is she, Lex?” Clark asked, as he started inching closer towards his friend.

Lex looked down, his mouth a straight, tight line. “Not good. Despite all my efforts, her health's been declining this past month. I asked my father to put her into a hospital where she could get the proper care, but he's been refusing to do so. The worst part? I overheard some of the servants say that my dad had actually actively forbidden them to go into her room to take care of her. It's like he wants her to die! In fact, I'm pretty sure that's his intention.”

Lex was surprised when Clark suddenly embraced him. “I'm so sorry, Lex. Can't you take her to an hospital yourself?” Clark mumbled into his ear.

Lex couldn't help but melt into Clark's warm embrace. He hugged back, feeling somewhat better now. “No, I'm just a minor... I have no say over any of my mother's healthcare.” He mumbled into Clark's shoulder.

He then suddenly realized that there was other people in this room, staring at the two of them. He colored slightly, and pulled away from Clark.

“Um, sorry about that. I didn't mean to bring up my pointless drama into this meeting.” He told everyone.

Pete shook his head. “Nah, it's good, bro. If my mom was dying, I would be upset too. I can't believe your dad's such a tool.”

Chloe nodded. “Ditto to that.”

Lex smiled at his friends. “Thanks, guys.”

“So I suppose this means that you have no qualms about spying on both your father and Dominic, then.” Krypto replied.

Lex nodded. “Yeah, I'll do it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lana was walking by herself towards home when she heard somebody call out to her.

She turned around to see Chloe running up to her.

“Hey. Um, do you want to hang out with me today? I thought we could go to that pizza place?” Chloe said in one breath.

Lana couldn't help but feel surprised at this. Chloe had never really made any real effort to hang out with her before... in fact, she had a tendency to make fun of cheerleaders. And since Lana was on the cheerleader squad...

Chloe must had sensed her thoughts somehow, because she sighed and said: “Look, we're now all on the same team, right? We're supposed to be working together to save the world from evil alien overlords.... it only makes sense that we should get to know each other better.”

Lana smiled slightly. “I see. Yeah, that does make sense.”

Chloe suddenly thought of something, and looked sheepish as she asked, “You don't have anything planned for today, right? Because we could totally do this thing another time if you want. After all, I don't want to impose on you.”

Lana couldn't help but think about what was waiting for her at home. Aunt Nell nagging at her to do better at school. Or worse, listening to Nell obsess over Lana's dead parents again and how Lana should act/look more like her mother.

Bleh.

“Oh, I don't have anything important going on right now. I'm more than happy to go with you now, if you want.” Lana replied.

Chloe smiled. “Great! I've got some coupons we can use up... free soda if we order the Stuffed Supreme Pizza.”

Lana smiled back. “Hmm, that does sound great...”  
~~~~~~

They walked into the building with the words “Smallville's best pizza ever!” hanging over the door, and had to wait behind a line of teenage-aged people.

“This place's been getting really popular lately.” Chloe couldn't help but comment.

Lana nodded. “Yeah, I've been hearing about this place around school. Apparently the owner has a thing for games, so he's been expanded this place to have an Arcade in the back. This way you can play to pass the time instead of waiting for your food. Quite honestly, the Talon's been competing with this place when it comes to being the one cool teenage hangout spot in Smallville.”

They didn't notice a strangely familiar-looking guy standing behind them who were listening to every word they said. The guy was holding a black shard, which he quickly pocketed....

Chloe chuckled. “I would had thought the Beanery would had been the Talon's rival, not this place.”

Lana shook her head. “Ah, but that's where you're wrong. Aunt Nell's been trying to remake it as a cool teenage hangout. Something to do with the fact that most of Smallville's older residents tend to like the Beanery's limited flavors while The Talon tend to have more than just coffee, plus we also have imported coffee from other places. We also have far more pastry selections than the Beanery does. So therefore most of our customers tend to be on the younger side.”

She then chuckled. “Of course I may be biased due to the fact that I help my aunt run that place alongside the flower shop...”

Chloe wrinkled her nose at that. “I don't know how you do it... I mean, you're basically on the cheer-leading squad which takes up most of your time, then you have to help run BOTH the flower shop and the coffee house? I can't help but think that maybe you secretly abuse 5-hour energy pills.”

Lana couldn't help but smirk at this. “To be perfectly honest... it's not exactly my choice at all. My aunt's been trying to save money by having me work. This way she doesn't have to hire other people... basically I'm slave labor.” She then gave Chloe a bright smile, trying to lessen how bad that really sounded. “But it's not all bad... she does give me an allowance for helping her out, though.”

Chloe shook her head at this. “I still would had tried to sit your aunt down and talked about how I needed time to focus on school or something, if I was you. I mean, you're basically the popular girl in school but I've noticed that you barely have any time to hang out with all of your popular friends. I would had thought that would be a big issue for you.”

An waitress finally came by and showed them to their table. They both sat down at a table that was covered with a red checkered tablecloth, and then Lana continued the conversation.

“I don't mind that part, to tell you the truth...” Lana replied, “I mean, outside of cheer-leading I don't really have anything in common with the squad and the jocks. Sure, I love rooting for the Crows during the game but that's literally the only thing I can connect with them on. We don't even like most of the same movies or books. So it's kind of nice to have an excuse when I feel like I need time away from them. Likewise, if I feel like I need time away from work I can just always tell Aunt Nell that I'm at cheering practice... sometimes I use those excuses on both work and school, and just go be by myself somewhere else instead.”

Chloe listened to the girl ramble, and couldn't help but giggle when Lana basically confessed to skipping out on both work and after-school activities sometimes. “Aha! And the truth comes out... Lana likes to play hooky sometimes. I never knew you had it in you.”

Lana chuckled. “Better than abusing energy pills, that's for sure. I think that if I didn't take time for myself once in a while, I would go insane.”

Chloe nodded. “That's the truth for every girl out there, I think.”

Lana took a sip of her water, and looked over the menu that the waitress had left for them.

Chloe took the opportunity to look at the menus too, and silence reigned over the table for a few minutes.

“I'm still planning on using up my coupons... just so you know. If you're not planning on helping me eat the supreme pizza, then I guess I'll have to take some home for dad...” Chloe murmured.

“Yeah, plus you said something about free soda if we ordered that pizza? I'm totally for it.” Lana agreed.

Lana then smiled. “You know, you've been asking me all those questions about myself.... don't you think it should be my turn to ask you a few questions? After all, we're supposed to get to know each other better....”

Chloe looked slightly sheepish and unsure. “Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just too used to interviewing people I guess..? Go ahead, ask me any question you like.”

Lana pondered on what it was about Chloe that she wanted to know. “Let me see.... what should I ask you? Aha, how about this? I've heard some pretty weird rumors about you, and at times I've always wondered if they were true.”

Chloe suddenly looked nervous. “What kind of rumors?”

“Like the fact that you're a young, undercover cop who watches for meteor mutants who might be tempted to commit illegal activities, and arrests them if they get out of hand. Your hard-boiled journalist persona is just an cover for that.” Lana pointed out one of the farfetched ones that she had heard the most.

Chloe stared at Lana in blank surprise, not having expected that at all. She then burst out laughing.  
“Oh wow... that's a pretty weird rumor alright. Do the police force even use underage kids for undercover work at all...? Wouldn't that be illegal to start with?”

Lana shrugged. “I'm just telling you what I heard around school about you. And you have to admit, you've developed something of a reputation as that chick who's always catching meteor mutants in the act. And then the police always show up so quickly! People were bound to develop some pretty interesting ideas about you. Sometimes I even find it plausible myself.”

Chloe shook her head. “And what, my Torch crew stands around doing nothing? Do they even say weird stuff about the boys too or is it just me?”

Lana pondered this. “Let's see.. Pete plays on the football team as a backup extra in case one of the other team members are sick or injured. He writes mainly about sports and things like that on your Torch newspaper.... so he's seen as the most normal one in the group. It also helps that he always seem so reluctant to go with you on one of your adventures... so mostly they just feel sorry for him, what with him being dragged around like that.   
Clark on the other hand...he's seen as a massive, clumsy dork. but kind of intimidating at the same time due to having muscles from working on a farm and looking like he could pass for 18 instead of his actual age. There's rumors that he might have mutant abilities too... So basically most see him as being the muscle behind your operation.”

Chloe made a hmm-ing noise at this. She then said, “That seem to be mostly true for the part. What about Lex?”

Lana laughed at that. “You thought the rumors about you being a undercover cop was ridiculous? The rumors about Lex Luthor could fill a 1,000 page book! And every one growing more outlandish than the last one.”

Chloe leaned forward, eager to hear some really silly ones. She could do with a good laugh, and something to tease Lex about later. “That's a given with him being the famous, resident rich boy around here. Dish 'em some of them out, please.”

Lana then rattled some off. “Let me see what I can remember off the top of my head. Hmm, Lex is gay due to all the purple he wears. Lex is secretly suffering from an incurable disease, which was inherited from his mother. Some see his baldness as proof of this. Um, He and Clark is secretly in love with each other and has plans to elope together after high school. He sleeps with a harem of supermodels every time he goes to Metropolis with his father. Lex apparently lost his virginity at ten years old to a older woman who used to be his private tutor, who were fired afterward when his father found out.  
Um, I could go on and on here... but mostly it has to do with the wild, sexual lifestyle he apparently leads. Which I have to admit seems pretty farfetched considering the fact that he actually seems to enjoy working on a newspaper with you and leading an otherwise quiet life. Um, not that your newspaper is boring at all...”

Chloe chuckled. “It sounds more like half of the male population were simply fantasizing about what they'd do if they had been born into a rich family like Luthor's. And then they wanted it to be true so that they could vicariously live their fantasies though Lex. Seems to be the only explanation for half of those rumors. Although I don't know why some seem to think that Lex's gay.”

Lana rolled her eyes at that. “You do have to admit that Lex wears A LOT of purple for one guy. I was actually shocked when he came to school in a green shirt once. It was a really nice shade of green too.”

“This is coming from a girl who wears almost nothing but pink?” Chloe couldn't help but point out.

Lana paused at this, and then smiled. “Okay, you got me there. Although I'm a little bit confused as to why some seem to think that Clark and Lex are secret lovers... I just don't see it, you know?”

Chloe snorted at this. “I think I know where that particular rumor came from. You see, an year ago Clark somehow got it into his head that maybe Lex Luthor was feeling suicidal due to his mother not waking up or something like that. Anyway, during that time Lex was really busy, so Clark had a difficult time trying to have a private conversation with him alone without anybody listening in. So finally, he cornered Lex and dragged him off to a Janitor’s closet so they could talk alone. In typical Clark fashion, he didn't even realize that this particular closet was a popular make-out spot for couples in school... and well, a few people saw them going into there together... inducing myself!”

Lana raised her eyebrows at this. “Oh no. That must had been embarrassing for Clark once he found out. Was Lex suicidal though or was it just Clark being paranoid?”

Chloe shrugged. “Well, Lex did act really depressed and stressed out.... so I can see why Clark was worried. However, having that conversation inside that closet did wonders to boost Lex's morale for some reason. They like, have this huge Bromance thing going on that it even makes Pete jealous sometimes. But that's Clark for you... he always seem to know what to say to make you feel better.”

Lana smiled wistfully. “I wish I had a friendship like that...I'm not even close with anybody, I don't think...”

The waitress came by and started taking their orders. Chloe asked for a Dr. pepper along with the pizza, while Lana asked for a 7-up.

Lana then sat back in her seat. She narrowed her eyes at Chloe. “I just realized that you just pretty much steered the topic away from yourself. I wonder, are you so reluctant to share things about yourself?”

Chloe looked vaguely surprised at this. “I did? No way, I'm a open book.... you can ask me anything you want!”

“Oh really? Favorite color?”

“Blue and Sliver.”

“Fave Food? Movie? If you could go to any place in the world, where would it be?”

“I like compact foods that you can carry around... so sandwiches, cookies, and muffins. I don't really have a favorite movie but I do enjoy watching old B-movies late at night just so that I can have something to laugh at. I guess I would like to go to New York at least once in my life time. How about you?” Chloe answered, just a little too smugly. 

Lana then tried to think of an embarrassing question for Chloe to answer. “Alright, I dare you to answer this question...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dominic sighed. He was heavily disguised this time, having learned from his last mistake. He now looked like a dark-haired man with a heavy tan, like a guy who had just worked outside all day on a farm.

However, it seems that he had the bad luck to be seated close to Lex's friends. He never knew how truly annoying teenage girls could be until he had heard them chatter incessantly about anything and everything. Why were Lex ever friends with those girls, he would never know!

The tidbit about Lex and Clark being possible lovers were interesting though... he wondered how Lionel would react if he came to him with this tidbit?

He shook his head. No, he had to focus! He was here to scan the area for the next stone of power, not listen to gossip.

The problem with such a crowded area was that he didn't know which person had the stone stored away inside himself or herself. The black shard kept on insisting it was here though.... so maybe it was somebody who worked at this place?

He had to get up and discreetly move around the place... this way the black shard would be able to accurately pinpoint which one of those people here had it. He looked around, and smiled when he saw the Arcade in the back. He could use that as a excuse...

He got up and walked past the annoying teenage girls towards the Arcade section. He could feel his dark shard reacting more strongly now... and he smirked.

So, this person was somebody who enjoyed playing games. Visions of some punk kid filled his head, and he felt more confident. Surely he could take on a inexperienced little kid even after he was turned into a meteor mutant?

However, his confidence turned to surprise as the shard guided him towards a graying, middle-aged man who were giving tips to some kid playing a game called Streets of Rage. He looked like he might have a little bit of Italian blood in him.

“Adam hunter is a well balanced character. He has good range, good power and varied attacks but he  
is slightly slow. He is great with pipes and bats and has the best range with them. So if you really want to beat this game, pick up everything you can and beat the enemies with them!” The guy was saying.

The ten-year-old kid looked up. “Uncle Joe, how do you manage to know everything about every game here?“

The middle-aged man chuckled. “I was actually a video game champion when I was around your age, and mastered every game you see here. They used to call me Game Master Joe... ah, those were the days.”

Dominic stepped toward, deciding that he would wing it, and go by what he had learned about the guy so far. “Um, sir? I'm here to see you about a game?”

Uncle Joe turned around to look at the stranger, and frowned slightly when he didn't recognize him.

“Yeah?”

Dominic tested the water by saying, “I hear you've been buying old arcade games for your place here? And I hear you've been looking for some specific games...”

Joe's eyes lit up at this. “Oh, Are you the guy online who told me that he would sell me Battletoads? I've been expecting you.... I got to tell you, I've been looking all over for an arcade version of that but it's proved to be surprisingly difficult!”

Dominic smiled. It was a good thing that he had correctly pegged this Joe as some kind of game collector. “Oh yeah, It's me alright. I've also got the Arcade game of Mutant Ninja Turtles too, if you're interested. I have both of them out back on my truck, if you want to take a look at them?”

Joe grinned. “That sounds fine. Lead the way, then.”   
Dominic then said: “My truck's out in the back. Come on.”

With that, Dominic walked towards the exit. He couldn't help but smirk when he saw that Joe was following right behind him, and thought to himself that some people could be too trusting for their own good.

He took his shard out in preparation for what was to come.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe was still laughing over Lana's attempt to find an question that she might be too embarrassed to answer. 

“Give it up, I already told you that I'm like a open book...” She trailed off as she noticed something strange. Her smile faded when she saw some stranger holding a large black crystal shard.

Lana noticed Chloe's eyes tracking something right behind her. So she turned to look, and only saw the owner of this place following somebody outside. “What is it?” She asked, as she looked back at Chloe.

“Um... it's probably nothing, but that guy was holding a black crystal shard, just exactly like the one Dominic used on Mrs. Ross. It was what transformed her into her past alien form.” Chloe explained.

“Do you think we should check it out, just to be safe? After all, what if Dominic passed that shard off to somebody else so that they could do the job in his place?” Lana suggested.

Chloe nodded. That did seem like a possibility that they had to look into.

They both got up just as the waitress arrived with their pizza.

“Um, We'll be right back! We just have to check on something outside...” Chloe told the waitress, and then both girls rushed outside. 

The waitress looked bewildered for a few seconds, but decided not to stress over it. After all, their jackets and the pizza were still here... so it wasn't like it was a case of “Dine and Dash”. Right?  
She just placed the pizza down on the table and left.

Meanwhile, the girls rushed outside just in time to see the mysterious stranger force Joe into transforming!

It looked like an painful transformation too, as Joe was clutching at his chest as a dark energy swirled around him. Electricity shot off him in sparks, as some kind of metal started to encase his entire body. In a few seconds he now looked like some kind of buff-looking robot. That, or some guy in an alien-looking, sci-fi body armor.

In the center of his chest, there was a glowing light blue stone.... the water crystal!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything came back to him in a rush. Joe couldn't believe that he had been such a fool... wasting his life in this idyllic human existence as some kind of game collector and the owner of a pizza restaurant.

For he was really Gesen, a General of Planet Mercury's Army. He was utterly royal both his planet and to the Empress. And it seemed as if he had been revived for a reason...

“Hand over the stone of power, or else I'll have to kill you!” Dominic demanded of the newly transformed man.

Gesen scoffed. “And just who are you? Some idiot seeking power, or somebody who made the mistake of working for Zod? Perhaps it's a little bit of both....”

Dominic sent an energy blast his way, which Gesen dodged easily.

“By that attack alone, I can tell that you're not somebody who's used to fighting at all. Tell me, did you know that you're going up against a General of the Mercury Army? Because for a newbie like you, going up against me would be a death wish!” Gesen couldn't help but taunt the human man.

Dominic growled. “Don't underestimate me!”  
A dark aura swirled around Dominic's body as he seemed to gather a ball of energy in his hands. He then held out his hands, which led to a series of energy bolts shooting out as if the hands were machine guns.

The bullet-like energy blasts exploded with anything it touched upon impact, so even if Gesen managed to dodge most of the hits he was still affected by the aftershocks from the explosions. He was sent flying by the aftershocks, and his body crashed against the wall of the building!

The impact created an large hole and a pile of rubble which covered Gesen. People who had been just eating their pizza, gaped at the newly made hole from inside the building.

Dominic laughed. “See? Now give me the crystal!” He then walked over to Gesen's unconscious body.

He was this close to grabbing the crystal and just teleporting out of there, if it hadn't been for Jupiter and Mercury showing up. He had been about to touch the crystal when he was suddenly hit with a Supreme Thunder attack.

Dominic had been hit with an taser before when he was younger.... it had been like being hit with a severe electric shock that caused the body stiffen like a board, and temporarily lost all of his motor skills. however, it leaves you completely cognizant of what was going on. It was the strangest and the worst feeling in the world ever at the time.

But this? This attack was worse! It was as if somebody had multiplied the effect of an taser by a tenfold, to the point that it could kill a normal human being. So it was probably a good thing that Dominic wasn't exactly normal... even though it knocked him right off his feet and left him crashing to the floor.

Gasen came to just in time to see two Sailor-suited girls move between him and Dominic.

“In the name of Strength and Courage, I am the beautiful warrior Sailor Jupiter!” The one in green and pink announced. The one in blue then said, “For the sake of Knowledge and Tactics, I am the sailor-suited warrior Mercury! I advise you to surrender to us and repent for what you've done!” 

Dominic had lost control over his magical abilities that had kept him disguised this whole time, and now he was back to his normal self. So it was at this point that the Sailor Warriors were able to recognize him again.

“Again, Dominic? At this point you're coming off as less of a hapless mook but more like somebody who's seeking power for himself....” Mercury couldn't help but chide the man, “Not to mention we now have witnesses coming out of this building here who can see you for what you really are now. Enough to put you away now, I think...”

Jupiter smirked. “Too bad Mars isn't here.... she'd be really happy to hear that. And maybe give this creep the beat down he so deserves.”

“You bitches don't understand at all!” Dominic snarled. “I need the crystals, it's my life on the line here!”

Gasen had been discreetly sapping all the electricity out of the building while the Sailor warriors were distracting his enemy, and now he was back to full energy.

He stood up, and then stepped forward. “Step aside, ladies. This is one fight that I must finish by myself.... My honor as a Mercurian calls for it!”

Sailor Mercury objected to this, much to his surprise. “Hold on.... we need to let the authorities take care of this man. Yes, this man is working for Zod and most likely have killed so many... but he is still just a human being no matter how corrupted he is. So we can't just kill him off like you want.... we have to deal with him the way we would do with a human criminal.” She reasoned.

Gasen couldn't help but growl, “You're kidding, right? You're making the mistake of giving this scum mercy.... all that will do is cause a repeat of the solar system's tragedy all over again!”

Jupiter chimed in. “Yeah, he kind of does have a point. I mean, this is basically the fate of the entire Earth that we're talking about.... and Dominic seems to be helping those who want to destroy our way of life! No offense, but I'd want to make sure that he can't do this anymore. Also, Dominic seems to have super-powers of his own.... what can the police do up against him??”

Mercury looked worried at this. She was just too used to just handing troublesome people over to the police and letting them handle it from there on.... that doing anything else just felt wrong.

But Jupiter did have a very good point-- what could the police do with this type of guy in their custody? Dominic could just teleport right out of both jail and Belle Reeve!

Wait, Clark had that Moon Staff... didn't Krypto say that it could remove powers from corrupted people and return them back to a normal human being?

“We have to call Sailor Krypton! He can remove Dominic's powers so that he won't be a threat for the police.” Mercury suggested.

Jupiter then rushed over to pin Dominic down before he could even react. “Call him, then....I can hold him so that he won't escape us again.”

At this point there was a crowd forming outside the pizza place, trying to figure out what was going on here. They kept an cautious distance away from Gasen and the Sailor Warriors though, having learned to be careful thanks to out of control meteor mutants.

In the distance, there was the sound of police sirens.

Mercury used her visor's holographic interface to dial into the Kent farms' residence, and it just happened that Clark was the one to pick up. She told Clark what happened here quickly as she could, and he told her that he'd be right over.

There was a dial tone, and then there was a whoosh of air. She blinked, and Sailor Krypton was right next to her. Mercury shook her head. “You know, I'll never get used to how fast you can be sometimes.”

Krypton looked uncomfortable at the insinuation that he always had been naturally super-fast even before all of this happened.

“Um, Yeah, I've been fast ever since I got those Sailor warrior abilities. Heheh...” he lied, and very badly at that.

Mercury rolled her eyes. She didn't have time to deal with Clark's weird hang-ups today. “Whatever. Look, can you remove Dominic's supernatural abilities with your wand? We need to hand him over to the police but we have to make sure that he won't injure the police or escape.”

Krypton nodded. “I can do that...”

“Damn, help me please!” Jupiter cried out, as she struggled to keep Dominic pinned down but Dominic was growing too strong for her.

Dominic shook her free, and actually managed move at a break-neck speed away from her and everyone else.

Gasen was just as fast though, and he suddenly had an grabbing apparatus similar to an crane claw shooting out of his arm. It grabbed Dominic, and gave him an electric shock.

“Damnit, what is it with you people giving me electric shocks today?!” Dominic couldn't help but gripe, as he struggled to get free.

Gasen reeled him in, and that was when Dominic suddenly got an idea.

Dominic acted helpless and meek as Gasen pulled him closer, then he suddenly sent a surge of dark electricity energy along the grabbing claw which stunned Gasen.

“How does it feel to be on the receiving end?” Dominic gloated as he broke free and started grabbing at the stone of power which was still attached to Gasen's chest. It turned out that the stone of power was a part of some power circuit, because Dominic actually had to rip the entire thing out of Gasen's electronic power armor.

“Oh no!” Mercury cried, as she rushed over to stop Dominic. Krypton super-sped over too as well, but it was too late.

For soon as Dominic ripped out the stone, he teleported out instantly in order to prevent it being taken from him.

Jupiter rushed over to help Gasen up after he had fallen to the ground, but Gasen couldn't stand up at all. His powered exoskeleton had been disabled when Dominic ripped out his power circuit, and it was too heavy for him to stand up on his own.

“Damn it all to hell! I completely underestimated him...” Gasen muttered.

He was so utterly ashamed at himself for letting his guard down around one of Zod's servants. He had been so sure in his own abilities, and had believed that he couldn't possibly be defeated by somebody so weak. He forgot about how utterly devious and cunning the enemy could be....

He looked over at Sailor Krypton, recognizing him as the royal prince of Krypton. He had this chance to represent the best that planet Mercury had to offer, and he humiliated himself like this.... he wasn't fit to be called a general!

Sailor Mercury was now typing on floating holographic keyboards quickly, and holographic maps of Smallville and the world popped up. She appeared to be rapidly scanning for any sign of Dominic's energy signature all over the world, and frowned when she found no sign of him.

“How can this be? I locked into his energy signature, scanned his DNA and everything else the minute we came into contact with him. This super-computer of mine should be able to find him anywhere on earth, even amongst millions of human beings.” Mercury sounded dismayed at this. “This can only mean that he teleported to some place that was designed to hide from our scanning abilities. Damn it, I thought we could follow him to his hideout...”

Krypton looked stricken at this. “I know the reformed silver crystal could be dangerous if used by the enemy... but can the separate crystals wield power by themselves too? This could be bad!”

“This is all my fault. I shouldn't had assumed that it would be impossible for the enemy to remove it from my body just simply because I made it a part of my power armor. I let my pride blind me to my own weaknesses..... and the enemy exploited that!” Gasen cried out.

“It's not your fault.” Jupiter said, as she continued to hold him up. She then looked around. “The police is coming soon... shouldn't we do something about Gasen? Like maybe restore him back to a normal human?”

Krypton blinked. He then looked very sheepish. “Oh.. yeah... sorry, I forgot that I was also supposed to do that...”

Jupiter couldn't help but look at him like he was stupid, which made Sailor Krypton blush from embarrassment.

Gasen then spoke up. “Before you restore me back to normal... can I speak to Sailor Mercury quickly? I have something important to give to her....”

Sailor Mercury moved over to him. “What is it?” Gasen then pulled some wiring out of his head.

“Connect this to your visor, and I'll give you all the data I have on all the stones of power, amongst other things. This is the least I can do after I failed to guard the stone of power I had.....” Gasen told her.

Mercury simply nodded, and plugged it into her visor. The Data exchange took than a minute, but Sailor Mercury was awed when she realized that she had been given over 20 zettabytes of information. She had a lot to go though....

She then stepped away, and Gasen nodded at Krypton, signaling that he was ready to go.

“Healing Escalation!” Krypton cried out as he waved his moon staff around.

“Refresh!” Gasen cried out, as he became Joe again. The middle-aged man would had collapsed onto the ground if Jupiter hadn't caught him in time.

The police was now coming up the driveway of the pizza place. The Sailor Warriors then rushed off to find a place to de-transform and blend in with the crowd.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lex Luthor had been doing his best to stay casual while he hung around the mansion today. Normally he would had gone right up to his mother's room to stay with her and monitor her health, but at this point he decided he couldn't do much for her. Besides, what the torch crew asked of him was also equally important.... he had to make sure that Lionel wasn't part of Zod's alien invasion plan.

So now he was currently doing his homework in Lionel's office, where he could keep an eye on his father. Normally Lex would had preferred to do his homework in the library away from his father, but fortunately Lionel didn't realize this little fact. So he had let his son study around his coffee table while he worked at his desk.

So far, Lex was bored. It wasn't like his father could be up to anything while he was at his computer buying and selling stocks.... but he had to stay here in case anything interesting happened.

Thankfully he didn't have to wait too long because one of the servants appeared at the office door.  
“Mr. Luthor...Dominic is asking for you.. and he appears to be injured?” The butler told Lionel, and ended it with a question as he seemed unsure what had happened to Dominic.

“That asshole got himself into trouble? Ha, this I got to see...” Lex smirked, getting to his feet.  
“Lex, be nice. That's my most trusted assistant you're talking about.” Lionel scolded, as he got up from his desk towards the hallway.

“I know.. why do you think I hate him? Anybody who willingly associates with you has to be an complete asshole by default.” Lex told his father.

Lionel rolled his eyes at his son's antics. However his annoyed smirk faded away as soon as he saw Dominic in the hallway.

Dominic's clothing had scorch marks all over and some large ripped holes that suggested that he had been in a fight. Dominic was limping towards Lionel and clutching at his stomach.

“Dominic! What happened to you?” Lionel rushed over, and Dominic collapsed into his arms.

“I... I can't tell you here.” Dominic replied, when he saw that Lionel wasn't alone.

Lex whistled when he saw the scorch marks on Dominic's clothing. “What the hell did you do, get into a fight with a power line and lose?”

“Lex! That's not funny at all... don't you realize that he's injured?” Lionel chided his son.

Dominic ignored Lex's verbal jab at his appearance and just pulled out the stone of power, which was still attached to some sort of futuristic power circuit. “I....I faced some obstacles, but I managed to get this for you...” Dominic told Lionel before finally passing out.

Lex frowned when he saw the object. He hadn't seen an stone of power before (his group hadn't shown him the one they had), but he was pretty sure that was one.

Lionel picked up the object, and looked over it. He noticed Lex's interest in it, and he quickly pocketed it as to keep it hidden from Lex's sight. “Lex, why don't you call the hospital? I'll arrange for Dominic to be taken there.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe sighed as she ate another piece of cold pizza. Most of the people here had left the pizza place after the fight here, but there was still a few people hanging around.

Clark and Lana was here with her as well, helping her eat the rest of the pizza.

“So much for a girls night out, huh?” Lana chuckled weakly.

“Yeah. I just can't believe that I wasn't able to track Dominic.... not after all the work I put into creating a sub-route for that on my super-computer last night after the incident with Pete's mother. I even went to the trouble of getting his DNA so that I could track him from anywhere in the world. It just feels like I did all that work for nothing!” Chloe grumbled.

“Well... Think of it this way, he can't get very far or do anything without us knowing about it. The next time he shows up, we'll there too.” Clark said, in between bites of cold pizza.

Chloe's cellphone rang, and she answered it. “Hello?” She then told the others, “It's Lex! He knows where Dominic is.”

She listened to Lex talk for a few minutes. “Okay. Thanks for telling us. Okay, no problem.”  
She then hung up.

She then told the others at her table: “Apparently Dominic went straight to the Luthor Mansion after grabbing that stone of power, where he promptly collapsed at Mr. Luthor's feet. He's being moved to the hospital, and Mr. Luthor now has the stone of power. Lex's going to try and wait until his father sets it down somewhere. He'll see if he can grab it and get out of there then.”

“So I guess that means that Mr.Luthor is really a part of this after all. Poor Lex... it must be so hard on him to find out that his father's working for Zod.” Clark frowned, thinking about how his best friend must be feeling right now.

“I don't get it.” Chloe wondered, “My scanners should had been able to track Dominic at the mansion, yet it didn't.... I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll ever get over that until I find a explanation for that!”

“Maybe Mr.Luthor has something at his home that jams all tracking and scanning devices? He's rich, he could afford something like that...” Lana suggested.

Chloe's eyes lit up at this. “Of course! That would make so much sense... Mr. Luthor can be a paranoid bastard, and so of course he would have come up with something like that.”

She sat back in her seat, fully satisfied now that she had a good reason for why her tracking hadn't worked at all. It had nothing to do with her abilities at all.

Joe came into the pizza restaurant with a group of policeman. He looked around with an confused look on his face.

“The thing is.... I don't remember why I went out there in the first place. I remember thinking about a game called Battletoads but that was it...?” Joe was telling the cops.

One of the cops sighed. “Great. Too many confused eyewitnesses for us to be able to make any sense of what happened here. None of it makes sense... some were saying a robot created the hole, while others say it was a shape-shifter posing as Dominic who did it. Somehow the navy is apparently also involved here...”

“I suppose we'll have to chalk it up as one of Smallville's unexplained oddities once again.” the second one replied.

With that, they left.

Chloe frowned, annoyed by this turn of events. “After all that they're not going to be suspicious over the fact that Dominic was here? Gee, I guess those folks will forgive anything as long as they get paid off for their troubles... and knowing Mr. Luthor, he'll probably do just that.”

Lana shook her head sympathetically. “It's too bad. I know Pete would had been happy to know that Dominic was being held accountable for his actions.”

She then looked at the clock, and gasped when she realized that it was past her curfew. “Oh no, it's late.. I've got to go home!”

Chloe frowned when she looked at the time. “Huh? It's only 5pm....”

Lana looked at her apologetically. “I'm sorry, but my aunt keeps me on a really strict curfew... she never lets me stay out late. She still seems to think that I'm just a little girl... you know how it is!”

“Alright then... see ya.” Clark nodded in understanding. His parents could be a little overprotective themselves too at times.

Lana left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She temporarily transformed into Jupiter so that she could run faster, and then stopped behind the stables so that she could return to being Lana Lang again.

She stepped into the stables to check on the horses, and smiled when she saw that they were doing well. She then walked out towards her house.

She stepped into her house, and sighed a breath of relief when she saw that Nell wasn't by the door waiting for her like usual whenever she came close to being late for curfew. However her relief was short-lived because she saw Nell in the kitchen, talking to the portrait of Lana's mother. The portrait was encased in a gold frame, and Nell often carried it around with her while she was at home.

“I tell you, that daughter of yours is so troublesome sometimes. I do my best to raise her exactly the way you would had wanted her to be, but sometimes Lana....” Nell sighed. “You know how she can be.”

She paused, as if listening to to the portrait speak. However there was nothing but total silence coming from the picture. Nell then laughed, acting like the picture had said something funny.

“Oh, Laura. You always had such a wicked sense of humor!”

Lana shivered slightly. She hated it when Nell started acting creepy... well, more than usual. Talking to dead people, and holding a complete conversation with them for hours..... who the hell did that?

Lana often wondered if she should had gotten Aunt Nell mental help... because clearly Nell wasn't quite over the death of her beloved sister, and had been far more traumatized than Lana had been at the time of the meteor shower.

But Lana couldn't help but have this irrational fear that she might be taken away by child protective services if Aunt Nell's mental illness was brought to light. She just couldn't fathom the idea of living in Foster care, especially after hearing all the horror stories about Foster abuse.

So She held her tongue in public regarding Nell's unusual behavior at home.

Nell finally noticed Lana at the kitchen door, and asked: “There you are. Where have you been? It's 38 minutes past your curfew!”

Lana shook her head free of thoughts, and replied: “I'm so sorry... I was invited by a friend to eat at the pizza place in town... she wanted to have a girl's day out with me. You know, engage in some girl talk and gossip..... stuff like that. I forgot to call and tell you that I'd be there.... and I did try to make it back here on time. But her car was so slow...”

Nell smiled at that. “That's alright. But call me next time so that I know where you are, okay? You know I can't help but worry about you. What with all those freaks roaming about the town and pretending to be normal people.” She made a face as she thought about all those meteor freaks going after her precious little niece. “You know they seem to have a strange fixation with you.”

Lana smiled weakly. “Heh, yeah. Um, I'm gonna go upstairs and get ready for bed...”

She then quickly left the room.


	9. Intermission--A look into Sailor V's life.

Kandora walked into the living room where Kara was watching some cartoon on TV, and she couldn't help but sigh. She then sat by the girl to see what it was that Kara was watching.

It was some strange TV show called “The amazing world of Gumball”, and Kandora couldn't understand the appeal of it. But it seemed to make Kara laugh all the same.

Kara was a completely different person in this reincarnation... she wasn't as Kandora remembered of her in the past.

It seemed that Zor-El's entire family had been reincarnated together... but, due to some unseen setback Zor-El's daughter Kara had been “held back” in the reincarnation progress and wound up being born later than the others on Earth.

According to Krypto, Kal-El was now a teenage farm-boy living in Kansas. It used to be that Kara was older than her cousin Kal-El by one year, but now she was going to wind up being the youngest one out of the entire group.

Kandora mentally frowned at this. She truly didn't expect to find a highly excitable 9-year-old girl instead of a teenage girl, but she supposed she had to work with what she had.

Kara's father walked into the room, and said: “Linda, why don't you wash up for dinner? It's almost time to eat now.”

He then noticed the black dog sitting by the young girl, and smiled at how cute it was that the dog was watching the TV with his daughter.

Kara sighed. “Aw, dad! I'm not done watching the telly.... do I have to?”

Her dad gave her an stern look, and she rolled her eyes. “Alright, I'll do it.”

Kara got up, and left Kandora with her own thoughts.

Zor-El and his wife, Alura In-Ze, no longer went by their original names.... And why would they, for they didn't remember their past lives at all. They now went by the name Fred and Sylvia Danvers...and they had named their daughter Linda Lee Danvers when she was born.

Save for Kara being years younger now, They all looked exactly like they did in their past life.... which made it really difficult for Kandora. She mentally referred to them by the names of their past selves instead of the names they went by... which was a bad thing because she had to remind herself that they weren't the same people they used to be.... they led an completely different life now.

Zor-El, now known as Fred Danvers, is a policeman working for the London police. 

Sylvia Danvers were your typical homemaker, which Kandora found strange. Alura had always been a dedicated political activist and scientist who would had been unhappy if she went very long without studying something scientific, or even tackling politics and making a difference in her community. So it was weird that Alura could even be happy being Sylvia.

But then again, Kandora never really imagined Zor-El as a Policeman neither...Like Alura he had been a scientist too, although he was never as involved in politics like his wife was. Fred Danvers was a part of some police force called National Crime Squad (NCS), and often helped with the forensic aspect of solving crimes. So maybe that helped satisfy the scientific part of himself? After all, the Forensics were a type of science that just happened to specialize in finding the criminal responsible.

Kandora shook her head to free herself of such depressing thoughts. Maybe the problem was her, not them. She was stuck on the past, so focused on how great the Silver Millennium had been that she wasn't able to accept the way things were right now. And considering her mission, that was a very bad thing.

There was no use dwelling on the past when she had a extremely important mission to do. She had to ensure that Zod couldn't break free from the phantom zone again, and to protect the last surviving members of the Kryptonian royal family. If she failed in her mission there was a possibility that everyone living here on Earth could all die. She couldn't let that happen!

Sylvia Danvers then popped her head in to call the dog. “Come on, Blackie. It's time for your dinner too.”

Kandora sighed. She really hated that pet name... she had asked Kara/Linda to tell them that her real name was Kandora, but for some reason they had thought that was way too strange a name for a pet dog. So of course she was stuck with that stupid name.  
Seriously, who the hell named living things after a color?

She wondered if Krypto was having that same problem with the family he was staying with. She mentally smirked to herself when she pictured Krypto being named something silly like “Snowy” or even “Albino”.

Syliva sighed. “Come on, Blackie! I don't have all day... if you don't hurry, you'll have to miss dinner!”

The black dog groaned, and got up. She slowly walked to the kitchen feeling slightly annoyed for being hurried up like this. Especially when she wasn't very keen on the tripe they dared to call “dog food”. Back in the Silver Millennium, she had been fed real meat, amongst other things. Not kibble!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linda grinned as she made bubbles with her soap while she washed up for dinner.

She then blew one of the bubbles off her hand, and watched as it floated around the bathroom. She then rinsed her hands and face, and toweled off.

She then rushed towards the dining room, and smiled again when she saw that her mom was having some difficulty feeding the dog again. Kandora didn't really like dog food at all!

She then thought back to the first time she had met Kandora. It had been during recess in the school's play yard when the dog came up to her. 

The black dog had looked at her expectantly, as if Linda was supposed to do something for her... so Linda had first thought that maybe the dog was hoping for food or something like that.  
Kandora would had spoken to her at that moment, but a dog at a school yard tended to attract attention amongst younger kids, especially if they loved dogs. So within moments Kandora had been mobbed by a bunch of kids who wanted to pet her or play with her.

So Kandora had been forced to do a tactical retreat, and instead followed Linda back home after school. Boy, had her parents been surprised when Linda showed up at home with a dog!

But the best part had came afterward. They had agreed to shelter the stray dog for a while until they could verify if the dog belonged to anybody or not, and that very night Kandora finally had her chance to speak with Linda.

Boy, had Linda been surprised as heck when the dog spoke! Kandora gave her this nifty orange wand that could transform her into an amazing super-heroine with neat light-based powers!

It was something she had to keep secret from her parents, but she didn't mind at all... she liked cool secrets like this one.

And she even loved it when she managed to get into the news as Sailor V! Becoming famous was the best part of being a Super-heroine, far as she was concerned.

Although she didn't understand why Kandora kept on calling her Kara... that wasn't even her name at all! But Kandora was kind of a silly dog to start with... so she didn't think twice about it.

She went to sit at the dining table, and saw that her dad was reading the newspaper. She grinned when she saw a picture of Sailor V on the front.

Linda made it into the news again! It was probably that bank robbery that she had busted up yesterday as part of Kandora's Sailor Warrior training.

“Sailor V's pretty cool isn't she?” Linda couldn't help but casually bring it up.

Fred frowned, and shook her head as he replied, “I don't think so. She's just a little girl playing hero... She doesn't seem to appreciate the kind of danger she's putting herself in. Not to mention the trouble she's causing for the police!”

“Huh? Why would you say that??” Linda asked, genuinely shocked by her father's words. She would had thought that her own father would fully appreciate what she was doing.

Fred noticed the shock on his daughter's face, and smiled. “You're a little too young to understand this, but... The thing is, there's this thing called due process. A civilian can't go around doing a policeman's job. They usually don't collect any evidence, or come up with a enough legitimate reason to keep the criminals in jail beyond some gut feeling that the bad guys were up to no good. With most of the criminals that Sailor Venus caught, we were only able to hold them for a few days before letting them go. You can understand how frustrating this is for a police man if it turns out that those guys really were up to no good after all.. can you?”

Linda frowned. “But that's not fair at all... Sailor Venus worked so hard to put those bad guys behind bars! Who says that they should be let out just because she wasn't the police??”

“The Law says so, sweetie. Which brings me to the next point... Whoever this Sailor V is, she's way too young to understand the nuances of the law and why we need it. She looks to be around ten years old, so she might only have a simplified view of what the law is.” Fred tried to explain.

Sylvia had been listening to this conversation as she brought the food over to the table. She shook her head, saying: “I just don't know what her parents are thinking! Do they even know what she's up to... running around doing dangerous things like that? I can't help but think maybe her parents are the neglectful type.... she must be doing this as a way to seek attention and validation since she's clearly not getting that at home.”

Fred simply nodded in agreement at this. “Yes. And I've been trying to find out who she is... clearly we have to stop her from doing that sort of thing before she gets herself killed. She's such a young girl.”

Linda couldn't help but scoff. Her parents were totally wrong on that one... although it was kind of funny that they didn't know that they were basically calling themselves bad parents. What with her secretly being Sailor V and all that.

She glanced over at Kandora, who just looked back at her quizzically. Linda made a face at her dog, as to say “they don't even know who I really am!” and she giggled.

“What's so funny?” Sylvia asked.

Linda looked up at her mom. “Oh, nothing really... I just find it funny how Kandora keeps on looking to me to fix her dinner... She doesn't really like kibble at all.”

Her mother sighed. “Yes, I know... but I can't afford the canned dog food. So she'll have to make do with the cheap kibble.”

Fred chuckled. “I don't know why you keep on calling her Kandora. That's an awfully strange name for any living thing to have, don't you think?”

Linda stuck her tongue out. “Better than Blackie! That's such a generic, boring dog name....”

Her father laughed, and her mom finally sat down after placing everything on the dinner table. That was when they said their grace, and started digging in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, as Linda was getting ready for bed, the dog spoke.

“Kara... I mean, Linda. You've been doing very well with all the Sailor Warrior training. I think it's time we moved on to the next step.” Kandora told the young girl.

“What next step?” Linda turned to look at the dog strangely as she pulled on her pajama pants.

“I think it's time we joined up with the other Sailor Warriors....” Kandora replied.

“Huh, there's more people out there with the same abilities you gave me?” Linda wondered, feeling slightly disappointed. She had liked to think that she was the only one who could do the things she did. You know, being the one chosen hero out of millions like Harry Potter, or something like that....

It had made her feel special believing that sort of thing, even if it was highly egotistical.

But at the same time she couldn't be angry with the dog for not telling her right away. Especially since she got to experience amazing things like being able to fly though the air under her own power.

Seeing London at night, from 1,000 feet high, had been such an amazing experience every time she went out at night to fight crime as part of her Sailor Warrior training. It gave her a strong sense of freedom in ways that nothing else had been able to do.... So how could she begrudge others the power to experience something like that?

The ability to fly was the best power ever, surpassing even the super-speed, heat vision and the light-based powers she had. At least, this was her opinion.

She thought about that as she pulled on her pajama top and went to the bathroom.

Kandora followed her into the bathroom, saying: “I apologize for not telling you that there was others out there... but I felt that you needed some training in basic defense and honing your skills before you learned of others like yourself. After all, you're one of the most important people on Earth right now. and I didn't want you to seem inexperienced in front of the group that you're going to lead.”

Linda chuckled at this. Kandora really knew how to butter up people, that was for sure. The last part caught her attention. “The group I'm going to lead...? Wait a minute, you want me to be the leader?”

She pulled out her toothbrush and got ready to brush her teeth at the same time she was listening to Kandora's explanation.

“Yes. I truly believe that you are qualified to help lead the fight against the enemy. Knowing Krypto, he probably hasn't even put the group though any kind of training at all... and instead just told them to fight the enemy.” Kandora couldn't help but sigh, as she thought about her male counterpart.

“Hmm, Krypto... isn't he the dog who's basically a inverted version of yourself?” Linda wondered, having remembered Kandora mention him before.

“Uhh... I don't really think of him like that at all. But I can see why he appears that way to everyone else. In many ways, he's my opposite...” Kandora looked vaguely annoyed that anybody would even compare the two of them. That white dog often irritated her, with his casual easy-going personality! It often seemed like he didn't take his mission seriously at all.

Linda would had chuckled at Kandora's reaction if she wasn't in the process of brushing her teeth now. Normally she would had been standing in front of the mirror, and watching herself brush... but this evening she was standing in front of her dog, listening to every word.

Kandora looked up at the young girl cleaning her teeth, and continued with her explanation.  
“As I recall, I briefly told you that there was another dog like me when you asked me if there was more talking dogs like me out there. This was back then when we first met... and I told you that he was on a mission of his own. Well, now you know he had been rounding up the rest of the Sailor Warriors. This is where I now tell you the real reason why I've been training you to become the leader of the Sailor Warriors....”

Linda paused mid-brush. This felt like the good part in a movie, where they dramatically have the big reveal...the reason why everything was happening. This was just too cool for words!

“There is a enemy who's threatening life on earth as we know it. The enemy is Zod, an alien conqueror who intends to conquer the earth and remake the planet to fit his tastes. The only person who can stop him, is the Prince of Krypton. He has amazing powers beyond what you can currently imagine, and has the ability to seal away Zod forever. Krypto sent me an signal telling me that he found the prince, so that's good news. However, the bad news is that he was reincarnated as a human being on Earth. So as an result he doesn't remember who he truly is, and is currently defenseless against Zod.  
This is where the Sailor Warriors come in.”

Linda pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, and said, “Oh, let me guess... we're supposed to protect this prince and fight Zod?”

Kandora nodded. “Yes...the Prince of Krypton should awaken to his true nature very soon... but until that day comes, you should take on the leadership role and act as an distraction for Zod.”

The girl spit out all of the toothpaste foam in her mouth into the sink, and then turned around to face the dog.

“Alright, I'll do it!” Linda beamed. This was awesome, she was like the main hero of an action movie! As a matter of fact...after the earth found out what she had done to save the world maybe there would be a movie made based on her story. It was all so cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A while later she was crawling into bed just as her parents came in to check on her.

“All ready for bed, sweetie?” Sylvia smiled at her daughter, as her husband came up behind her.

Linda nodded. “Yeah, I am! Good night mom, dad.”

As her mother started tucking her into bed, Fred asked: “Would you like a bedtime story?”

Linda wrinkled her nose at this. “Oh dad. I'm old enough to sleep without a bedtime story now!”

Fred visibly deflated at this. Sylvia then said. “Oh, we know, honey. But your daddy just wants to spend some time with you. You know he doesn't get to have that chance very often thanks to his busy job as a policeman.”

Linda thought this over. “Oh... well... I guess it wouldn't hurt to have him read me a bed time story. Even if I'm too old for it now.”

Sylvia smiled, and then grabbed a book nearby that Linda had been reading for school. “Honey, why don't you read this? Linda's been reading books for schools, and this is one of them. It'll be sure to put her to sleep!” She couldn't help but chuckle.

Fred looked at the title of the book that his wife gave him, and he narrowed his eyes. “Oh, they're still making kids read this? I remember having to read this for school when I was Linda's age. The Secret Garden was a okay book, but as a young boy I wasn't that impressed with it.”

Linda nodded. “Yeah, I agree. I really liked the last book they made us read... Charlotte’s web. Have you read it?”

Fred smiled. “The one with the spider and the pig? Yeah, I liked that one too. But let's talk about this tomorrow, okay? We have to put you to bed...”

With that, he sat down to read the next chapter of Secret Garden to his daughter, as his wife watched on with a smile on her face.

Pretty soon, Linda was sleeping soundly in her bed and her parents left to get some shut-eye themselves.

~~~~~

Kandora jumped onto the foot of Linda's bed and plopped down to catch some sleep after Linda's parents had left the room.

She couldn't help but started having second thoughts about what she was doing. Kara, in this new life was just so young and innocent.... and she obviously had a very attentive and loving set of parents who would sorely miss her if anything ever went wrong.

After all, this was a very dangerous mission that they were going on.... and it was entirely possible that Linda could die while acting as an decoy. This part she couldn't bear the thought of, but she had orders from Jor-El.

She recalled that Krypto had expressed some misgivings about the crystal fortress's AI, claiming that it didn't really sound anything like how Jor-El acted while he had been alive. Kandora had dismissed him at the time, saying that he was far too sentimental for his own good. But now she was starting to think that maybe Krypto was actually correct for once in his life.

The Jor-El AI didn't seem to care about the safety of anybody else.... all it cared about was the safety of Kal-El AND the complete eradication of Zod.

Kandora sighed softly. She had no choice but to follow orders no matter how much she was starting to question the boss. After all, this was Earth on the line... they had to do this in order to save lives. Even if it meant possibly sacrificing the life of a 9-year-old....

Kandora didn't sleep well this night.

By early dawn before everyone else was up, around 4am, the black dog nudged the young girl awake. And just like they planned, they were both flying out the open window towards America before anybody could stop them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lionel Luthor sat upon his throne, asking for the usual weekly report.

Dr. Hamilton stepped forward and gave his report.  
“I've been experimenting with ways to yield the highest amount of energy while discreetly harvesting it from living beings. I've tried a few methods on the local cattle around here, and I believe I've discovered the best method.”

He then held up a glass case that contained some kind of strange-looking flower. It looked like a weird cross between a pink tiger-lily and a daffodil.

“What's that?” Lionel asked, a highly interested expression on his face.

“I call it the Nicodemus flower. It's currently one of my best creations so far, if I say so myself.” The dark-skinned man couldn't help but swell up a little bit once he saw that he had Lionel's interest. “It may not look like much, but appearances can be deceiving. You see... it causes any living being that gets in contact with it to start building up massive amounts of energy within themselves. It does this by causing the being who came into contact with it, to completely lose all of their self-control. The person or animal will start indulging himself by acting on his basest desires. All of this helps build up their energy levels to the highest amount that their bodies can hold, you see.”

“How is the energy harvested?” Lionel couldn't help but wonder.

Hamilton grinned. “I'm so glad you asked that question! That's the really brilliant part. Did you know that plants often communicate with each other using a fungi underground system, as well as a sound frequency that is completely undetectable by mankind? Only a few select machines can detect that frequency. Anyhow... since the plants can send this sound frequency to each other, I thought I would use the same basic method that Phlean used to steal energy from humans with that radio scheme of his. Carrying the energy over radio-waves to a certain place where it would then be harvested.... I can hijack the plants' sound frequency for this very purpose using the same method!”

He then let out wild laughter that would had done any mad scientist proud.

Lionel smiled. “You said that you tested this on some cattle? Did you collect any energy out of that?”

The meteorologist nodded, and he offered up a silver box the size of a music box which he floated over to Lionel.

Lionel couldn't help but raise a eyebrow at the size... he was used to seeing massive amounts of energy being stored inside tiny boxes the size of matchboxes. But he soon realized why this box was bigger than most energy storage box.... the energy inside was ten times more massive than anything they had ever collected before!

“You got all of this from cattle?” Lionel Luthor couldn't help but wonder out-loud in an awestruck voice.

Hamilton nodded. “Yes... but it had some drawbacks. The flowers didn't know when to stop sapping energy, so as an result the cows that came into contact with them died. The good news, it was confined to only one farm so the farmers are just writing it off as some sort of cow disease since the cows there was acting very erratically. So people won't give it any second thoughts at all. The bad news, it'll take me a while to fine-tune the flowers before they're safe to unleash on the human population. Having dozens of humans die from this could attract too much attention.” 

Hamilton looked and sounded regretful that he wasn't able to use his flower on the citizens of Smallville, which made Lionel smile.

“I think you should stick to cows for now... spread this flower around a little more to other farms out there, if you can. We need all the energy we can get in order to make Zod powerful again, after all. I don't think he'll be too choosy about where it comes from.”

Hamilton just nodded at this.

With that, Lionel then sent the silver box into the Phantom zone window hovering above his throne. “You need a reward for all your hard work, I think. Dominic brought me something very interesting in addition to that stone of power that he found.”

He then pulled out the alien power circuit that the water crystal had been attached to, and handed it over to the meteorologist. “See that? It's a power circuit, but it's advanced beyond anything like what you would see on Earth. If I had to guess, it's Mercurian in design....and that means that it came from the Planet Mercury's colony before it was utterly destroyed all those eons ago.”

Hamilton took a deep breath, awed by the thing he was holding. “It's ancient alien tech? Amazing, I would never thought I'd get to see something like this!”

Lionel smirked. “This power circuit could make us money if we could reverse-engineer it. Just think of it, it can hold far more power than all the nuclear plants, all the electricity plants combined on earth. It also could be a great boon to our cause.”

Hamilton was trembling with excitement now. “Sir... please allow me to study this thing. I promise not to do anything that could permanently damage it.”

“But of course. I did tell you that you needed an reward for your hard work, didn't I? You may go and study it now.” Lionel Luthor replied, and Hamilton couldn't help but rush out of the room like a excited little kid who were about to play with a new toy.

Lionel sighed. “Oh dear... he forgot to thank me before leaving.”   
He then looked at the other generals who had been standing in the backdrop there whole time.

Nixon sensed that it was his turn, and he stepped toward the throne. He bowed, and then gave his report. He looked slightly nervous as he told his master: “Unfortunately, I wasn't able to any leeway in my investigations regarding the Sailor Warriors. I scoured all over for any past records of them, but the only thing I found was newspaper sightings of some little girl playing-dress up and pretending to be a super-heroine in London. By the looks of her, she seems way too young to even pose as a creditable threat to us.... not to mention that she doesn't seem to have any connection to the Sailor warriors in Smallville here.”

Lionel Luthor arched one eyebrow, and replied: “Do I have to remind you that appearances can be deceiving? You should never assume that a child cannot hurt you at all.... they have many ways to harm you, even if they cannot overpower you with physical force. You would do well to remember that fact. So tell me about this little girl....”

Nixon sighed quietly. “Very well. She seems to go by the name Sailor V, or Sailor Victory. At least, that's what the newspapers call her due to her trademark victory sign. She first appeared on the scene by preventing a very large trafficking ring from operating again in London, and helped rescue hundreds of people who had been kidnapped in order to be sold as slaves in the trafficking ring.”  
He paused to collect his thoughts. He then continued: “The reason why I said that she seemed to be just a little girl playing hero, is because she seems to be focused on breaking up mundane crimes in progress as opposed to stopping supernatural activities. There is also the fact that she seems to be only around the ages of 8 to 10 years old. I doubt she even knows of our existence.  
But there is the possibility that she might be training for the day where she finally takes on the duties of a true Sailor Warrior as an young adult.” 

Lionel nodded. “Makes sense. Considering that kids tend to learn things quicker and much better than adults do, training her to become a super-soldier for a future war against Zod's army makes perfect sense. At least, this does seem to explain why we suddenly have teenage brats going up against us. They must had been trained from a very young age to see Zod and anybody working for him as the enemy. A pity I didn't think of that first.... I would had liked an army of loyal, young adults at my command.”

Nixon looked up at Lionel with an slightly skeptical look. Lionel actually sounded like he was praising the enemy's tactics instead of trying to find a way to counter that.

Luthor then frowned. “But you weren't able to collect any information about the ones here in Smallville? I have to tell you, I did not hire you for your goggling skills at all. Rather, I hired you because of your ability to ferret out hidden secrets and knowledge wherever they were.”

Nixon tried not to sweat under Lionel's scrutiny as he tried to explain why his investigation was taking so long. “Well, uh... you have to keep in mind that investigations tend to take a while to complete in real life unlike what the TV and movies tell you. Even with my supernatural powers, it's taking a while because I've been doing a very through background on every Smallville resident to see which one of them would be most likely to be a part of the Sailor Warriors group. And in case you didn't know, this town has a population of 45,001... even says so on their sign!”

At this point Phlean couldn't help but step forward. His jaw was mostly repaired... it was amazing how fast a broken jaw could heal with the help of some magical reconstruction and healing. However, he still needed to wear an jaw brace until it was fully healed.

At least he was able to speak now. “If I may... I have an suggestion for Nixon. I know he's a little bit of a old fashioned guy when it comes to his investigation methods... “ Phlean couldn't help but chuckle derisively at this part, “But I can't help but think he could simply run a face recognition software that would match up Sailor Krypton and the others with the citizens of Smallville. Then he really would be able to narrow it down some. What's more, I think he could easily start with the young students... after all it's not like anybody over 19 could ever be the Sailor warriors...right?”

Phlean then thought for a moment there. “Oh wait... only cops and the FBI have those face recognition software. Too bad you don't have the clearance to use one, considering that you're just some tabloid reporter!” He then laughed at that.

Nixon growled angrily. “That's rich, coming from somebody who got his face bashed in by Sailor Krypton! On top of it, you failed at most of your missions that Lionel gave you... do you really think that you can lord it over me just simply because you're a cop?”

Lionel cut their argument off, by asking: “Mr. Phlean, are you saying that you think that you can find out Sailor Krypton's identity quicker than Nixon can?”

Phlean scoffed, and pointed out what he thought was a very good reason, “I don't just think... I *know* I can do it better. Besides, I have the added incentive of having my revenge for what he did to my face.... don't I?”

Lionel smiled at this. “Very well. I suppose having two men work on this assignment wouldn't hurt. Just don't get in each other's way, or else I'll have to come up with a suitable punishment for failing this assignment.”

With that, he dismissed them.

Nixon angrily glared at Phlean on his way out. Who the hell did that hackjob think he was, trying to take over Nixon's assignment like this? Phlean couldn't cut it as a cop, he couldn't cut it as one of Lionel's generals considering how he botched that last assignment. Now he wanted to pretend that he could cut it as an investigative reporter? Ha, the very thought made Nixon laugh.

It was just too obvious that Phlean was trying to get on Lionel's good side again, and trying to step all over Nixon while he did it. And there was no way in hell that Nixon would ever allow such a thing to happen! So therefore Nixon had to come up with something to help speed up his own investigation along.... 

He had to find out who the Sailor warriors were before Phlean did!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, look... it's the statue of liberty! I wish I had an camera with me... hey, do you think they sell disposable cameras in the gift shop there?” Sailor Venus excitedly pointed at the giant green statue, as she flew over it.

Kandora was flying alongside her, and the black dog sighed. “This is no time to be sight-seeing, Kara... I mean, Linda.”

Sailor Venus stopped midair and spun around to pout at the dog. “Oh come on.... I may never get another chance to sight-see like this again... once all of this is over I'll have to go back home, right? So why can't I stop by every major landmark on the way to Kansas to take pictures...? I promise I'll be quick!”

With that, she dived down towards the small gift shop that was by the statue of liberty.

Kandora groaned. She could tell this was going to be a very long trip.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Supergirl's origin and background story, She was often lagging behind Superman in the separate rocket she rode to earth... and as an result did not arrive on earth until Superman was an adult. And in some canon stories, espeically during the silver age, she was adopted by a younger couple with the last name Danvers instead of living with the Kents. On Earth she went by Linda Lee Danvers...  
>  Of course, Smallville's Supergirl is very much different from the one in the older comic series... but to tell the truth I didn't like very much what Smallville did to her... killing her off not only once, but twice?? and all this crap about her being created by Jor-El or something like that...  
>  So I wanted to do a shout-out to the oringal Super-girl instead, and rework this into the Sailor Krypton Universe.
> 
> So in Sailor Krypton's universe, her being held back in her "trip to earth", logically translates to her being reborn later than the others and ends up being much younger than the others is. This might have to do with the fact that Kara's parents were reborn as a couple that may be younger than Clark's parents by some years... and so end up having a kid only when they were ready to have one. So yeah, The Danvers family is somewhat younger than the Kent Family thanks to all of that.
> 
> Hope that clears up any questions you might had about Supergirl aka Sailor Venus.


	10. The stones of power: The fire crystal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Smallville take on the Sailor Moon Episode: "Loved and Chased! Luna's worst day ever!"  
> So naturally it's full of kitty chaos in this chapter, lol. Enjoy.

 

It was weeks ever since anything happened, and Krypto had to admit that he was starting to get bored. He almost wished that one of Zod's Generals would attack, or pretty much do anything.

 

Dominic was residing in one of the hospital rooms at Smallville medical center, and Chloe Sullivan said that she was keeping an eye on him. However, He hadn't done anything ever since he checked into there.

 

The white dog sighed. He might as well as go for a quick run around Smallville since nothing was happening.  
  
He super-sped into the distance, not knowing that he was about to regret the decision to go for a run by himself today.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
40 minutes later, Krypto was running for his life quite literally.

 

He couldn't believe it... the cats of Smallville had not only developed some kind of bizarre mutation, but now they were all gunning for him!

 

Hordes of cats were right behind the white dog, doing their best to herd him into a place where he couldn't get away from them.   
  
Their eyes glowed green, and Krypto couldn't help but let out a small whimper as he felt the sickness of Kryptonite radiation overtake him. He collapsed to the ground, and stared helplessly as the cats surrounded him in Riley's field.

 

Krypto wished he had paid more attention to Clark's warnings about what those “meteor rocks” could do. He knew that those stones had the power to transform people... they already kind of had the power to do that the past when all of it originally used to be Planet Krypton, after all. It was how most Kryptonians had gotten their super-powered talents to start with.

 

But the dog hadn't believed Clark when he said those stones could be harmful.

 

After all, Kryptonians not only got their powers from the home planet itself... the crystal planet had also been a healing source of power that allowed people to heal faster, and live longer. So how could it suddenly turn harmful after it had been blown into a million pieces??

 

Obviously, Zod's negative energy must had irradiated the Kryptonite and turned it into something harmful.... that was the only explanation he could think of!

 

<...Surrender or die...> the cats all telepathically spoke in unison, as their eyes glowed green. It made them look like they came straight out of a horror movie or something.

 

“Okay, that's creepy... are you cats working for Zod? Just have to make sure.” Krypto asked, as he tried to stay on his paws.

 

< We know not of this Zod that you speak of. But we declare that Smallville shall be ours to conquer, and all that has the power to stand in our way, shall surrender... or die!> The cat collective spoke telepathically.

 

Krypto thought before he spoke, wondering how to play this smart. Finally deciding on something.... he then told them: “I'm sorry, but I'm not the one you need to worry about. Zod is the one who's going to conquer the whole world, inducing Smallville! He's the most evil, powerful being ever.... you'd have to defeat him if you wanted to conquer this land first.”

 

All of a sudden, he felt something slam into his mind. It was like a thousand minds slamming against the barriers of his mind, forcing it open.... and finally rifling though all of his memories and his knowledge.

 

<We see now... you are correct, you are nothing but a insignificant speck compared to this threat. However, don't think you've succeeded in diverting our attention away from you. We shall be back to deal with you once we have found a way to deal with Zod.> All the cats' minds declared at once, as they left towards the hospital where Dominic was staying.

 

Krypto collapsed to the ground, feeling relived that those freaky cats were going to leave him alone for now. But at the same time he was equally freaked out.

 

An army of cats with a telepathic hive-mind could be very disastrous for the citizens of Smallville, especially if they were caught off guard by the cat army!

 

With that thought, he super-sped away in order to warn the Sailor Warriors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dominic breathed in the fresh air as he stepped outside of the hospital building. He then let out a sigh of relief.

 

He was finally getting discharged from the hospital! He had really stayed in there too long for his comfort... But the doctors had never seen such wounds on him before and had wanted to keep him here longer than what was recommended.

 

He had to admit that he enjoyed being in the hospital at first, as seeing it gave him some time to relax a little bit. As well as some time to think more about how to get around those blasted Sailor Warriors. They seemed to know his every move somehow.... how else could they had arrived at the pizza place so quickly?

 

But he was an workaholic so he was never happy unless he was busy doing something.... which is why he enjoyed working for Lionel so much. Lionel was a harsh master who demanded that Dominic work around the clock....unlike all those other humans out there who kept on insisting that he take a vacation or something like that.

 

His thoughts were interrupted when Chloe popped up in front of him. “Dominic! I want a quote from you about what happened at the pizza place!”

 

Dominic stepped away from the blonde. “What do you mean?”

 

Chloe pushed on. “There's been some strange reports that involves you. Did you know that somebody who resembled you were seen at the pizza place fighting some guy in a robot suit? And not only that, but you were seen fighting a group of teenagers dressed up in Sailor Suits.... care to comment on that?”

 

Dominic growled. He had forgotten about the fact that Chloe had been there.... of course somebody like Chloe would become curious about what was going on in Smallville and try to get to the bottom of it! And knowing Lex's friends, they wouldn't let go of something once they had smelled a good story.

 

Why did Lex have to hang out with such annoying people?

 

“I have no idea what you're talking about.... I wasn't there.” Dominic lied, as he made a move to get away from the nosy blonde.

 

But the nosy blonde followed him, asking: “So you're saying it was somebody pretending to be you then? That's your official instance on this?”

 

“That's very possible. Now leave me alone!” Dominic snapped at Chloe, as he got into his car and drove away.

 

Chloe narrowed her eyes as she watched Dominic drive away.

 

She would play the clueless reporter intent on getting her story, and tail Dominic everywhere he went. The minute he started doing anything supernatural... Sailor Mercury would be there to stop him.

 

She rushed towards her own car, which she borrowed from her dad, and started up the engine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Pete yawned. Man, a stakeout at the Luthor Mansion was more boring than he had pictured.

 

He and Clark was here under the disguise of getting Lex Luthor to help them with homework. It wasn't that unusual, since they had come to Lex for help once or twice considering that he was like the resident genius of Smallville.

 

So they were basically here scoping out enemy territory, looking for anything suspicious. They were also finding a way to take back the stone of power, if they found out where it was. Chloe was keeping an eye on Dominic, so she wasn't here with them.

 

But so far the Mansion was quiet... and boring. They were in the library with Lex, who were spreading their homework sheets around on the coffee table to make it seem like they had been studying.

 

Clark was doing that weird eye squinting thing, as he looked around. Pete didn't know why Clark did that, but for some reason Clark was able to find things faster that way. Pete often suspected Clark was a meteor mutant with powerful strength and eyes... although he wasn't able to confirm it.

 

Clark was often a little cagey about his abilities, and often tried so hard to seem like a normal person. Although, ironically enough Clark sometimes tried too hard to be normal that it made him seem like something of a oddball.  
  
Pete knew that he wasn't the only one with suspicions about Clark's abilities... Lex and Chloe often made pointed comments about how Clark should do something if they ever found themselves in dire straits as usual, while on one of their scooby doo adventures.

 

Pete thought that once they had all gotten powers from the transformation devices, that Clark would maybe open up more about being a meteor mutant, now that everyone was more or less on equal grounds. But Clark still hadn't said anything about himself yet.

 

Clark was squinting upwards at the ceiling, as if he was trying to see though the floors....

 

“Find anything yet?” Lex asked. Clark snapped out of it, and looked at Lex with confusion.

 

“Well, you were looking so intently at everything... I was wondering if you found anything suspicious yet.” Lex wondered in an innocent- sounding voice, “Because I haven't been able to find out where my father stashed that stone of power yet.”  
  


Clark blinked, and started to look nervous. “uh, not really...um, I'm gonna go to the kitchen and get us a snack. Want anything?”

 

Pete asked for some Doctor Pepper, while Lex was fine without anything. Clark then left quickly.

 

Pete sighed. “I don't know why Clark insists on trying to pretend that he's just a regular human being. I mean... I know he thinks he's being discreet about his abilities but...”

 

Lex chuckled. “I know, right? I lost count of the times where I had to cover for him with the authorities... or the times where Chloe had to do that. I remember the time where we were volunteering at the nursing home and there was this psychic lady. She showed him those visions of people who were going to die, and he ran himself ragged saving those people all over Smallville. There was so many witnesses that I had to talk to, and try to dissuade them from going public about Clark's abilities!”

 

Pete nodded. “I remember that, kind of. Wasn't that the same time some elderly serial killer discovered that he could become young again for short periods of time?”

 

Lex sighed, as he remembered something from that time. “I didn't even get a chance to talk to Cassandra before she passed away peacefully in her bed. I wanted to know what my future was like.”

 

Pete scoffed at that. “Nah... she was just a crackpot. I tried my luck with her, and you know what she told me? She said that keeping all of my friends' secrets were going to be too much for me, and that I'd one day leave because of it. And she also told Clark that he was going to outlive everyone he knew and loved. Seriously......”

 

Lex let out a short, dry chuckle. “That doesn't sound like you at all... you're the most loyal man I've ever met, besides Clark. I can't imagine you leaving everyone over something like that! And she really told Clark such a gloomy thing?”

 

Pete made a face at that. “I know. Like I said, a total crackpot.... or maybe she was the type who only focused on the bleakest future possibility instead of objectively looking at every possible future that a person had... if you know what I mean.”

  
Lex nodded. “Yeah. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't get to talk to her after all.”

 

Down in the kitchen, Clark had heard every word his friends said and he couldn't help but mentally sigh.

 

Clark had known for a while that the rest of the Torch Crew more or less suspected the truth—that he was a meteor mutant of sorts. After all, he wasn't exactly discreet when it came to saving them from random crazed mutants and other disasters.... just like Lex said.

 

He knew that he should just get over it and open up to his friends about being a meteor freak.... he knew that his friends had already accepted him for what he was...they were even willing to wait until he felt comfortable enough telling them.

 

But... he couldn't just help it for some reason. His parents had grilled it into his head for ages that he was to never tell anybody... not ever. They had told him horror stories about the early days... how the military vans had rolled though Smallville for days after the meteor shower, and pretty much abducted anybody who showed off their mutant abilities in public. Nobody really knew what happened to those poor people... but one could easily imagine what was happening to them because they were never seen again.

 

Not to mention, all those meteor mutants who kept on going mad with power.... it was so hard for Clark, because he'd worry about becoming something like that. it was hard to tell who was a meteor mutant and who wasn't.... It was entirely possible that more than half of Smallville's population were mutated and were simply living normal lives like everyone else. After all, those mutants who had caused problems had came from broken homes. So therefore it stood to reason that people with powers, who had came from good homes... knew better and just kept themselves very well-hidden.

 

Clark wanted to believe that, because then that meant that Clark wouldn't end up like the crazy, out-of-control ones... but he still couldn't help but worry. And if he thought so little of himself... how would his friends feel about him if he had confirmed their suspicions about him? He couldn't stand it if his friends viewed him with suspicion or treated him like a ticking time bomb that was about to go off any minute.

 

That was why he was so afraid to tell them....even if they already knew half of the story already.

 

In a strange way, the creation of the Sailor Warriors group had been something of a relief for him. This he could share with them, and they all had similar abilities just like him when they were in their Sailor Warrior forms. So belonging to a group like this, paradoxically made him feel halfway normal even though there was nothing normal about it.

 

But maybe this was also a good way to kind of ease into it slowly? Pretend that his original powers came with the Sailor Warriors gig, and then use it openly around them as Sailor Krypton. Then when he was comfortable enough he could finally stop lying to his own friends.

 

Clark felt better, once he thought of that plan.

 

The cook was piling up a lot of snacks and drinks that Clark had asked for, in addition to Pete’s request... and Clark carried the tray full of foodstuff back to the library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It took a while for Dominic to finally shake the teenage girl who had been tailing him. He didn't know who was more annoying, the sailor warriors or Chloe Sullivan.

 

But at least now he could move on and try to find the final stone of power. He would figure out a way to get the other one he had lost to the Sailor Warriors, once he found the final stone.

 

He pulled the black shard out of his pocket, and started pointing it at the windshield of his car while he was still driving. Dominic figured that if he did it this way, then the shard would tell him which way to go in Smallville and he'd get there rather quickly.

 

The shard vibrated in his hand, indicating that it had found the final stone. Dominic moved his hand to the direction the shard wanted him to go... and it was pulling him in the direction of Pleasant Meadows.

 

Pleasant Meadows were an housing development by Luthorcorp right in the heart of the town... and it was mostly populated by elderly people and the families who had moved to Smallville in order to work at the fertilizer factory.

 

He turned the car around, and drove back into the town.

 

Chloe, now Sailor Mercury, was watching him from an distance with a frown on her face. She had been forced to ditch the car somewhere safe, because Dominic had became aware of her following him all too soon. Besides, this way she could follow him in a much more stealthy manner.

 

She then ran quickly alongside Dominic's moving car while hiding in the corn at the same time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

  
Dominic parked in the driveway of a white house, which apparently belonged to a lady named Eva Scarlett Ohara. He then got out, and walked up to knock on the door.

 

To be honest, Dominic was feeling some trepidation... He wasn't looking forward to being attacked by some guardian of the stones again. He couldn't help but wonder what this one was going to be like...

 

Mrs. Ross, a virtuous courthouse judge who believed in justice, had transformed into an angel-like creature. Joe seemed like an ordinary pizza place owner, but had a intense love for arcade machines and so had transformed into some kind of robotic creature.

 

Dominic couldn't help but wonder if there was some kind of pattern there.... did they transform into those creatures based on their current personality? Or did their ancient past lives influence what those humans were like in the present day?

 

Either way, Dominic was definitely going to call for backup this time before he extracted the stone.

 

He knocked on the door.

 

A elderly woman with pure white hair answered the door. “Yes? Who is it?”

 

Dominic cleared his throat. “Are you Eva Scarlett Ohara?”

Eva frowned at the man standing on her porch. “I'm not looking to buy anything.”

 

Before Dominic could even respond to that, a very fat cat suddenly ran out though the open door. Eva seemed upset by this, and rushed outside to call after her cat. “Rhett!! oh no, not again...”  
  


Eva then hobbled after her cat, but couldn't run too fast due to her old bones and the fact that she had to walk with a cane. Dominic grabbed her, and Eva looked up at him. She then said, “Please, you've got to help me catch him. He's always getting into trouble.... getting into fights with other cats over territory.”

 

Dominic raised his eyebrows at this.

“I don't think you need to worry about that....” With that, he pulled out his black crystal shard.

 

“Hold it right there! I won't allow you to turn that innocent old lady into a monster!” A female voice rang out.

 

Dominic groaned. Just how did they always know where to find him, anyway?? He looked over to the path by the driveway, where Sailor Mercury was standing.

 

“Bubble spray!” Sailor Mercury called her attack, and the entire area was filled up with bubbles, which exploded into fog.

 

Before Dominic could even react, Mercury grabbed the old lady and ran off with her into the heavy fog. “Hey!!” Dominic cried out, and rushed in after her... but he got lost in the fog.

 

As the fog faded away, both Mercury and the old lady were nowhere to be seen. Dominic couldn't help but sigh in annoyance. He then smirked as he looked at his black crystal shard.

 

Mercury didn't know that he could track the person who had the stones of power with this thing... all he had to do was consult the shard, and he'd find them again. All Mercury did was slow him down.

 

He then held out the shard, and let it lead him towards the final stone of power.

 

Moments later in an area a few miles from the Pleasant Meadows area, Sailor Mercury stopped running.  
  
“Okay, I think we lost him. You're safe now. “ Sailor Mercury panted slightly, as she let go of the old lady.

 

Eva looked at the strange girl dressed in the blue and white Sailor Outfit, and asked: “Who are you, and what's going on?”

 

“Um... I'm Sailor Mercury, the warrior of knowledge and truth, at your service. As for what's going on, the guy back there was about to force you into transforming into a monster and I stopped him.” Chloe told her.

 

Eva had an skeptical expression on her face that clearly showed that she didn't quite believe Sailor Mercury at all. “Right... I suppose I should thank you then...?”

 

Just in that moment Krypto appeared in front of Mercury and cried out: “It's so terrible! The cats of Smallville developed telepathic powers and is plotting an uprising against the citizens here!”

 

“What?” Mercury blinked. “Slow down and tell me the whole story.”

 

Eva looked down at the dog with wide eyes. “Did that dog just talk??”

 

“Basically... this morning I got bored and decided to go for a run by myself. I ran into those telepathic cats who were waging some territory war with other animals living in Smallville. I tried to stop them from harming innocent animals who didn't even know they were in the middle some sort of war.... and then they all came after me! They then declared to me that they would take over Smallville first, then the world!”

 

Krypto barked the whole story out, and then paused to take in some deep breaths. He glanced up at the old lady, who were still staring at the dog with wide eyes. “Who's this person with you?”

 

“She's somebody I saved from Dominic. Now, are those cats working for Zod?” Mercury asked.

 

“That was the weird part... they said they had no idea who this Zod even was... So I guess that means they're just mutated cats who randomly developed strong telepathy skills. I basically had to distract them from killing me by telling them that there was already some evil overlord who were planning to do that. They didn't take too kindly to the news, and wanted to go after the people who would rule the world before them. They told me that when they were done with Zod and his minions, that they would come after me.” Krypto answered.

 

“So it's just the usual Smallville weirdness, then.” Mercury looked thoughtful at this. She grinned at the dog, and scratched his ears as she approved of his actions up to this point. “The way you sicced those cats on Dominic and the others...that was truly inspired and brilliant. that should keep them busy while we plan ahead!”

 

“Yeah, but don't you think we should still do something about those cats? I'm not sure they're going to focus solely on Zod's minions... as a matter of fact I saw them heading off to Lex's mansion. I thought we should warn the other Sailor Warriors as well as the innocent servants who work there?” Krypto looked up at Mercury, not believing how blase she was being about the whole thing.

 

Sailor Mercury visibly deflated at this. “Oh. Yeah, I guess we have to warn the others about that. Too bad, I was really enjoying the mental image of Dominic being attacked by cats.”

 

This whole conversation between the strange woman and the dog was too weird for the old lady, and at this point Eva decided that she should slowly and quietly make her exit. She had to find her cat, anyway.

 

Unfortunately, her attempt at escaping the situation were noticed by Mercury. Before Eva realized it, Mercury was right in front of her.

 

“Whoa there! Where are you going?” Mercury asked.

 

“Uh. I need to find Rhett. He's my cat, you know... and he escaped out the door when that man were visiting me.” Eva explained nervously.

 

“That cat could be a part of the evil cat horde...” Krypto wondered out loud.

 

Eva couldn't help but huff angrily at this. Talking dog or not, nobody had the right to talk about her darling Rhett that way.

 

“My darling Rhett would never do anything like that! He's a sweet thing who wouldn't hurt a fly.” She humphed at the dog.

 

Sailor Mercury sighed. “That may be so, but I need to get you to a safe place where Dominic can't get to you again. I can't allow him to transform you into a monster..... I'm sure you can understand that?”

 

Eva just looked at Mercury like she was crazy. “I don't even know what's going on here at all.... and I don't want any part of it at all! So if you don't mind.... I would prefer to go by myself to look for my cat.”

 

Mercury couldn't help but roll her eyes. What was it with this old lady? It was like she was obsessed with her pet cat! But maybe she had to play along to get the lady to cooperate.

 

“Look.... if I help you find your cat, will you go with me to a safe spot where Dominic can't get to you easily?” Mercury couldn't help but plead.

 

Eva paused at this. She was getting too old to chase her cat anymore... she could use a extra helping hand, even if it was from somebody as strange as Mercury. “Um.... alright. I guess I could agree to that.”

 

Krypto sighed. “And what about the others? Shouldn't we warn them before the cats strike?” He muttered to himself, but nobody heard him.

 

Unknown to him, it was already too late to warn the rest of the Torch crew at the Mansion.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
“What the hell is going on? It's like the entire cat population of Smallville went nuts!” Pete exclaimed, as he continued to board up all the broken windows so that any more cats wouldn't get in.

 

The cats had broken though the windows, and stormed into the Mansion attacking every human they saw. It was like a feline apocalypse of sorts.

 

Lex was helping with the other windows... and he growled. “I have no idea... but I'd say this was your typical Smallville weirdness. But the town picked one hell of a time to resume it's usual strange stuff! I mean, we were already busy with this thing we were doing, and now this??”

 

Pete shook his head. “Yeah, no kidding! Where the heck is Clark? We need his help with the windows over here...”

 

Lex couldn't help but look back towards the door of the library. “He went to save the mansion's staff from the cats, I think. And to try to chase them all out of here. At least he managed to succeed in making them stay away from the library.”

 

Just in that moment Clark walked in, carrying the cook. The rest of the servants trailed behind him, all holding various weapons.

 

The cook was scratched all over her face and her limbs, with the wounds bleeding badly. The blood made the wounds look more serious than it really was, which led Lex to rush over.

 

“Gina! Are you alright??” He asked of the Cook.

 

Gina, the cook, looked pale but fully conscious of what was going on around here. “I'm fine... it's just minor claw wounds. Clark saved me before it could get any more worse.”

 

Clark set her down on the sofa by the coffee table, and then turned around to face the butler who were holding a gun. “Enrique, was it?”

 

The butler was a middle-aged man looked like he could easily take care of any intruder, whenever they be normal ones, meteor mutants or cats. His black hair was slicked back, with a touch of gray around the middle behind his ears.

 

“Indeed, Master Clark. You have a idea on what's happening here?” Enrique wondered.

 

“I don't know... but I have a theory. I've heard that the cats tend to have territory wars around this time of the year. It isn't so unusual for them to do that sort of thing, especially if it's the time of the year where females go into heat....they not only try to hoard land, but mates as well. Maybe this year they decided to forgo having wars with each other and decided to become territorial against humans?”

Clark suggested, not even sure if his theory was correct.

 

Pete groaned. “If that's true, they picked a bad time to do it.. how are we going to get rid of all the cats currently in the mansion? The rest of the rooms are completely overrun with them!”

 

“Well... they might be attacking us, but I just don't feel right killing those cats for being in tune with their territorial instincts. So that's out.” Clark replied.

 

One of the cats peeked into the room from outside the window. The cat's eyes glowed a bright Kryptonite green, and he sent an telepathic message to the rest of the cats both inside and outside the mansion.

 

<All the humans have been herded into one room...and I have scanned most of their minds. For the most part, none of them seem to be working for this Zod. However, It seems that the son of this mansion strongly suspects that his own father is working for Zod. And there was one human whose mind I couldn't scan at all...>

 

With that, he sent the rest of the cat collective a mental picture of Clark Kent. <No matter what I tried, I could not break though his mental defense. Maybe he is Zod?>

 

The other cats sent him back a message. <observe for now... find any evidence that he is Zod... if he is Zod, then kill him. Kill anybody working for him too!>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Rhett the cat was enjoying his freedom away from home by hunting the large rats down in the sewers. Besides, it was the one place that he could get away from his owner for a little while.

 

As much as he liked his human, the lady had a tendency to smother him with her love. She would constantly fuss over him on a regular basis, and treated him like her baby instead of the feline warrior that he really was.

 

After all, he was a mighty hunter that was feared by all! He was the complete alpha of all cats and Smallville was his playground.

 

With that thought, the cat let out a mighty yowl to let the rats know that their doom was coming.

 

Little did Rhett know that somebody else was hunting him.

 

Up above ground, Dominic was frowning at his crystal shard.

 

“This can't be right... Mercury and the old lady is underground?” Dominic wondered aloud, as his black shard was pointing downwards very insistently.

 

Dominic's look of confusion cleared as he considered one possibility.

 

Of course! The Sailor Warriors had to have a secret base from where they were tracking all enemy progress in the world.

 

Dominic couldn't help but visualize some mysterious-looking underground base full of ancient alien tech and holographic computers.

 

Maybe that was even how they kept on finding out about his activities and arrived when he was in the process of carrying out his mission. He surely would be rewarded greatly by Lionel for finding out where the Sailor Warriors' secret base was!

 

That thought spurned him on, as he used his power to teleport underground. He found himself ankle deep in what could only be described as a gross-smelling sludge of feces, urine and sewer water.

 

“UGH!!” Dominic yelled in disgust, as he jumped upwards towards one of the “sidewalks” down in the sewers. He had been so caught up in the thought that he might had discovered the enemy's base that he didn't stop to think about the fact that there was sewers down here.... and now he wished he had.

His expensive, Italian loafers would never be the same again. The same went for his socks and the bottom of his pant legs. Everything he wore waist down would all have to be destroyed after this day was over.

 

The dark shard in his hand started throbbing with energy, which told Dominic that his target was very close by. Dominic started to grin nastily. He was in a very bad mood now... and he felt like taking it out on Mercury and that old lady for making him come down.

 

He then ran down in the direction that the shard told him to go.... and were completely surprised when he only saw the old lady's cat in an dead end section of the sewer. The shard flashed brightly, telling Dominic that he had found his target.

 

His eyebrows twitched. It hadn't been Eva Scarlet Ohara after all, but her damned cat? How the hell did that even make sense..... how could a mere animal be a guardian for one of the stones of power?? That just went to show you that those ancient Kryptonians were completely loony. But at least the Sailor Warriors had been mistaken too as well... they had the wrong “target” in custody and now Dominic was free to take the crystal away from this cat.

 

Dominic then held out his black shard, but before he could even extract the stone the cat sudden ran away right between the man's legs!

 

Dominic spun around to see it turn around a corner, and then chased after the cat. He skidded to a stop once he saw the cat pausing before a dark wall. And then Dominic saw more than a dozen red eyes glowing in the dark wall... which was moving?

 

The man then realized that what he thought was another “dead end”, had been actually a whole wall made out of giant rats. It was a horde of giant-sized rats, which obviously had been mutated though a series of chemicals and Kryptonite. They were bigger than the cat, which was really saying something considering that the cat was the size of a wild bob-cat.

 

What's more, the rats were eying both the cat and man with an predatory air.... almost like they were seeing a delicious snack being dangled in front of them.

 

Both man and cat had the same exact thought at the moment.... and they both ran away in the opposite direction. The rat horde chased after them.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
“My scans show that your cat's in the sewers...? What would he be doing there?” Mercury wondered, as she walked with the elderly lady.

 

Eva had been amazed once she saw the holographic screens pop up around Sailor Mercury, and especially when the young lady showed her how it could be used to track her cat on an holo-map of Smallville. But now Mercury's comment worried her.

 

“Oh no!! Not again.... my darling Rhett tends to fancy himself an hunter... and so he sometimes goes down to hunt rats. But every time I've had to give him a bath and a visit to the vet. You never know what sort of disease those rats have, after all.” Eva looked worried.

 

“I can't help but think there’s better places to hunt... like the forests. Why doesn't he just go to those places?” The white dog couldn't help but comment.

 

Mercury looked disgusted at the thought that she might have to go down there to catch a cat... but her expression lightened slightly when she saw the dot on the map moving. “Hold on! Your cat's running very fast towards one of the sewer's exits... which we happen to be very close to!”

 

With that, all three of them rushed over in time to catch a very unusual sight. Dominic and the cat was running side by side away from what looked like a massive tidal wave of giant rats pouring out of the sewers.

 

“My word! My cat's being chased by those giant.... things! Are those rats?” Eva gasped in horror, “You've got to save my little baby from being attacked by those monsters!”

 

Mercury nodded. She could savor the sight of Dominic being chased by giant rats later....

 

“Bubbles.... blast!!” The bubbles hit the horde of rats dead on, and that area filled up with fog.

Amazingly enough, this actually seemed to disorient the rats as they looked about with confusion.

 

Dominic and the cat slowed down, once they saw that they weren't being chased anymore.

 

“Rhett! Are you okay, baby?” Eva called out to her cat, and the cat meowed back in response.

 

Dominic chuckled, and then pointed the black shard at the cat. He couldn't waste any more time!

 

Energy shot out of the shard into the cat, transforming the animal. Rhett yowled loudly, as his shape changed.

 

Within seconds, Rhett was no longer himself.... instead he was Bakene, the warrior-king of the Lunar cat tribe! He looked like an upright walking wild cat now... his fur in unnatural shades of purple and blue. Jewelry adorned his neck, wrists and ankles. The Crystal of Fire hung around his neck, and glowed brightly in the evening.

 

He recalled that he had been tired of his feline tribe's wandering nomad ways, and promised his royalty and fealty to the Empress Lor-Van in exchange for a permanent place that the cats could settle in and call it their own permanent home. And the Empress had given them the Earth's Moon and the bio-domes to live in.

 

Bakene also remembered that he was supposed to guard the crystal of fire, for some reason...

 

He turned around to look at Dominic, who had been responsible for his transformation. He couldn't help but grin evilly at the man, baring his long fangs as he did so.

 

Dominic nearly soiled his pants as the wild beast looked at him, and he was torn between his loyalty to Lionel and his natural cowardly inclinations. His loyal side said he should fight the beast to get the fire crystal for his master, while his cowardly side told him that he should make a run for it.

After all fighting a supernatural cat-monster that was even bigger than the other guardians, was way too much for him!

 

His cowardly side won out, and he made a run for it.

 

Bakene roared in delight at the fact that his prey was running away. The hunt was on!

 

The feline warrior-king started charging after his prey.

 

Mercury, Krypto and Eva had been standing there frozen with shock at the event unfolding before them and they finally got around to reacting when the cat-monster started chasing after Dominic.

 

“What the hell?? Eva's pet cat was the target all along?” Mercury exclaimed, her face expressing her disbelief at the whole thing.

 

“What did that dirty cur do to my cat?!” Eva was yelling hysterically now as she clutched at her chest. She was unable to wrap her mind around the fact that her sweet, chubby little baby had been turned into a monster. The whole thing made her want to faint.... so she did.

 

Both girl and dog had to act fast to catch the elderly lady before her body hit the ground.

 

“Is she okay?” Mercury looked worried. She didn't know what to do in the event of an heart attack or something like that. The dog nudged Eva with his nose, and then looked up.

 

“She's okay... she just fainted. I guess all this excitement was too much for her.” Krypto told Mercury, “But you better go catch up to the cat before Dominic gets away with yet another crystal! I'll stay here and keep watch over the lady here.”

 

Mercury nodded. “Right!”

With that, she was off running at a break-neck speed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dominic wound up running back to the Mansion without thinking about where he was going... all he wanted was protection from the monster hunting him.

 

But he had an nasty surprise waiting for him... for dozens of small cats ambushed him just soon as he got though the front gates leading up to the mansion.

 

“Gaaahh!!” Dominic screamed as the cats clawed at him from all direction. His dark aura surged, and he unleashed the dark negative energy from within his body.... causing all the cats to bounce off him instead of latching on to him like they had intended to.

 

He then took this chance to run into the mansion, locking the door behind him. Panting, he took this moment to catch his breath.

 

He paused, realizing that there wasn't something right here. He wasn't alone in the entry way... there was dozens of glowing green eyes watching him. He yelped as he turned on the lights.

 

It turned out to be a few dozen cats, all watching him in a very menacing way. Strangely enough Dominic felt a prickling sensation in his head. It was almost as there was something caressing his mind all over, and examining it very thoroughly.

 

Then a telepathic voice spoke from inside his head. <We found one of Zod's servants!> It crowed. It then sounded like a hundred cats hissing in unison. <The dog was right....he and his servants do intend to take over the world before us! At last we know who is involved in this scheme... we can kill them all now!>

 

With that, the cats attacked.

 

“Gaaahhhh!!”

 

~~~***~~~~  
  
Hot on the heels of his prey, Bakene let out another loud roar that indicated that he was thoroughly enjoying the hunt.

 

He smelled the air, and it told him that Dominic had gone into that large building that the humans called a mansion. He then encircled the building, looking for a way in. That was when he noticed the broken windows being boarded up by somebody inside.

 

He grinned, and leapt though the broken windows... shattering the wooden boards in the process. He gracefully landed on his feet, inside some sort of library.

 

A young dark-skinned boy was staring up at him with wide eyes. The boy screamed as he stumbled backwards away from Bakene. “Clark! Help me!”

 

There was a woosh of air and a very familiar-smelling tall boy now stood in front of the dark-skinned one protectively.

 

Clark looked back at Pete. “You alright?”

 

Pete simply nodded. “Yeah. Man, that thing's huge!”

 

Bakene sniffed the air, and looked at Clark with an confused look. This teenage boy smelled very familiar... he smelled a little bit like the empress Lara Lor-van and her husband Jor-El. The feline warrior would assume at this point that this young man was their offspring, but the coloring was all wrong. Clark had dark brown hair and green eyes, while the Prince Kal-El had black hair and blue eyes. Still, maybe this Clark was an relative?

 

If so, he couldn't attack this person indiscriminately at all out of his loyalty to the empress.

 

“Listen to me, humans!” Bakene finally spoke for the first time to the group of terrified humans that was cowering before him in the library. “I am the Warrior-king of the Lunar Cat Tribe, and I am here on a mission to eradicate all those who would plot to kill off the last remaining royal member of Krypton! This place has been corrupted with Zod's evil energy... so let me give you a warning... if you do not serve Zod, escape from this dwelling while you can!”

 

With that, the fire crystal hanging around his neck glowed brightly.

 

Pete then realized something. He whispered to Clark, “Hey, isn't that one of the power stones hanging around that monster cat's neck? Dominic must had turned some poor guy into a alien-mutant thing again. I guess Chloe wasn't able to stop him even though she said she'd keep an eye on Dominic.”

 

Clark nodded, having realized the same thing himself. He whispered back, “Yeah. At least this explains why the cats were all attacking this house and everyone in it... they were acting on this Cat king's orders. Hey, cover for me... I think it's time for Sailor Krypton to make an appearance.”

 

Pete nodded. But before Pete could even act, Dominic bust into the library as he was being attacked by the cats. Unlike with the other humans the cats didn't give up on attacking Dominic once he reached the library. They continued their assault and nearly covered Dominic's body from head to feet once they clung to him. His pained cries caused the other humans in the room to rush in to help Dominic, despite the fact that there was a giant cat monster in the room with them.

 

This wasn't the distraction Clark wanted but it would do. He super-sped into one of the bathrooms once everyone's attentions were diverted, and transformed into Sailor Krypton.

 

He then super-sped back into the library, and then quickly used his moon staff before anybody could even react. “Healing escalation!”

 

The yellow light grew outwards and then engulfed the entire mansion, removing all ill intent from the normal cats and causing Bakene to revert back to his Rhett cat persona. The fire crystal dropped to the floor and slid across it towards Pete.

 

Pete, seeing his chance took it... he grabbed the fire crystal and pocketed it quickly before anybody could see it.

 

Sailor Krypton nodded at Pete approvingly, and super-sped out of there. Within seconds Clark Kent was right by Pete, acting as if he hadn't left the room at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It had taken a while for everything to go back to normal. The Mansion's staff had called for the ambulance, and for animal control to come around and take all the cats off the property. And within 30 minutes the entire place had been swamped by the authorities, asking about what had happened here tonight.

 

Chloe had shown up, and explained everything that had occurred in their absence once they all got up to Lex's bedroom where nobody could listen in on them.

 

They were all sitting around or lying on Lex's bed, which seemed ridiculously large for a teenage boy to have. It was the kind of bed that could actually hold four people, and were fitted with purple and green sheets as well as a thick wool blanket.

 

Pete couldn't believe it at all. “What, those cats were doing all of this on their own without that cat king telling them what to do? Uhh.... I don't think I'm going to look at cats quite the same way again.”

 

Lex raised his eyebrows. “At least Clark was able to stop both the cats and that creature. Plus Dominic didn't get the last crystal like he wanted. Now all we have to do is try to find the one that my father's hiding, and we have all three stones of power.”

 

Clark sighed. “But I didn't see any place where your father could have hidden it, Lex. It wasn't in any of the safes or in any of the rooms.... I checked.”

 

Lex couldn't help but look curious. “How did you check? Because last time I looked, you were with me and Pete the whole time.”

 

Clark giggled nervously, as he recalled his promise to himself about using the Sailor warrior gig as a front for his natural abilities. “I, uh, saw though everything with X-ray eyes as Sailor Krypton? It's really amazing what kind of powers you get as a Sailor Warrior.”

 

Lex raised one eyebrow. Well, that was the closest that Clark even admitted out loud to having abilities and using them.... too bad he was still lying so horribly that everyone else in the group knew it.

 

Chloe smirked, catching on to what Clark was trying to do. She then got back to the topic on hand. “well, this castle was apparently brought over stone by stone... any chance it might had been recreated faithfully.... secret passages that we can't see and all that? a magically shielded secret room that's able to hide from my computers and from Clark's eyes?”

 

Lex nodded. “Yes, that does make sense... Lionel would’ve gotten special powers from Zod in exchange for opening a gateway to Earth. There could be dozens of secret magic rooms hidden from our sight in this mansion... but I have no idea how to track Lionel's movements and see where he goes...”

 

Chloe perked up at this. “Oh, I know! We could maybe set up hidden cameras and bugs? This way we can watch every move Lionel makes, and see if he leads us to a secret room here in the mansion?”

 

Lex smiled at this. “Yes, that plan's a great idea... but how to go about it without getting my father suspicious?”

 

“Hmm, I have a few ideas... how about this..?”

 

Chloe and Lex then got so caught up in their plotting that they practically forgot that their friends were still there. They were in their own little world.

 

Pete scoffed. “Well, looks like we're not useful here anymore... how about we go downstairs and get ourselves a snack? We do deserve it after such a ordeal, after all.”

 

Clark nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is done, and all of the stones are in play now..... stay tuned for the dramatic moment next chapter when all three stones of power finally merge together to create the Silver Crystal!


	11. Sailor Venus Arrives on the Scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was planning to merge the Sailor Moon episodes where Sailor Venus arrives, and the Sailor warriors getting trapped in Starlight tower....  
>  but the chapter wound up getting too long... so the merging of the stones will actually come next chapter. sorry about that.

Nixon couldn't help but let out a loud laugh as he put the final finishing touches to his plan. Finally, he would be able to find out who the Sailor Warriors were, and put an end to them once for all!

He had been pressed for time in trying to find the Sailor Warriors before Phlean did... which wasn't easy to do considering that Phlean had an face recognition software that could do the work he did in half the time. But then Nixon had a stroke of genius at the last minute....

Instead of digging into the pasts of everyone in Smallville, he would simply lure the Sailor Warriors into a trap. Once he had captured them, he would find out who they were....

He then turned around and asked: “Are you done putting together that Sailor Krypton disguise, Manegin?”

Manegin was a Phathom Zoner polymorph with the ablity to disguse herself into any creature she desired...her disguses were competely flawless, or at least enough to fool the majority of people.

And now she was currently masuading as the male Sailor Krypton... looking exactly like him in every way expect for one minor detail.

Manegin frowned at the refelection of the mirror, as she looked over her digsuse. “I look exactly like him in everyway.... but are you sure about the colors? The colors seem to be all wrong from what I heard.”

Sure enough, the shade of blue on the tight shorts and the Sailor Collar seemed to be a shade of purplish-blue instead of the usual navy blue. What's more, the red details on the uniform and boots were a dark blood-red shade instead of the bright red color that one usually assocated with the Super-powered Sailor Warrior. 

Nixon smirked. “Well, we're not looking to fool the Sailor Warriors themselves.... just the Smallville citizens. We need to lure them out of hiding... and what better than an very obivous fake doing good deeds in their name? I'm sure they'll be curious whenever you're an ally or not...”

Manegin nodded. “Alright.”

5 hours later, Sailor Krypton was seen all over Smallville saving random citizens from car accidents, random muggings, and just being a overrall good guy who seemed intent on helping everyone he saw.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
Chloe was in pure reporter heaven, as she managed to get not only one article, but THREE articles centered around the strange events that had occurred four days ago!

The first one was all about the strange feline territory wars, that had eventually caused the cats of Smallville to attack the humans working at the Luthor mansion. Chloe had managed to take pictures of the place after the incident as proof that it had happened. She then interviewed the staff not too long after it happened.

Pete helped out with that article,of course... considering that he had personally witnessed the cats' vicious attack on the mansion and it's staff. Naturally, Pete couldn't help but embellish on how he had saved the people working at the mansion in a very, manly action hero sort of way.

Chloe couldn't help but giggle at this part. “Funny....are you sure that Clark didn't do most of the work saving those folks?”

Pete scoffed. “Come on, let me have my moment in the limelight. Think of all the ladies I'd get....Besides, you know how Clark is. He gets overly anxious if he gets the slightest amount of attention from the public. So I don't think he would mind too much...”

Chloe nodded. She had to admit that Pete was right. Clark basically did everything he could to avoid being the center of attention, despite always being in the thick of things. He could be so weird!

Thankfully, the cats all seemed to be back to normal for now. They all still had some traces of telepathic abilities after Sailor Krypton had “healed” all of them with his moon staff. Pete had been worried that it meant that those cats would eventually start it all up again, but Krypto assured him that those cats' evil intentions had been completely removed by Sailor Krypton. So the fact those cats had mild telepathic abilities only meant that those cats would now learn how to get along with each other and humans better.

The second article was all about the giant rats dwelling in the sewers. Sailor Mercury's visor actually turned out to have a built in visual recorder, that when connected to Chloe's computer, could render a very convincing photo of the moment where the rats had came out of the sewers chasing after Dominic.

Chloe then had taken that photo to the Smallville authorities as well as the animal control center, and alerted them to the fact that there was giant rats bigger than dogs living right under Smallville.  
They had been skeptical at first, knowing very well Chloe's tendency to seek out bizarre stories that would had been right at home on the front page of tabloid newspapers like the Inquirer. You know, the newspaper that tended to feature a front page about Bigfoot and Loc Ness dueling, despite the fact that those creatures didn't even live in the same area at all.

But the authorities were also very aware that Chloe had an uncanny knack for ferreting out things, that whenever they liked it or not, ended up being a true story after all. And, giant rats that size could end up being very dangerous to humans if it was true.  
So they had gone down to check it out, and barely got out of there in time before they were devoured by a giant horde of rats. So it ended up being a very public event, as both the police force and animal control worked together to eradicate the giant rats.

The local newspaper the Herald had actually written an article about it after it occurred the other day. but Chloe Sullivan naturally got the first exclusive photos and an article published before any of them did... which had boosted her newspaper sales for a while.

The third article had been an interview with Eva Scarlett O'hara about her cat Rhett, and about the exciting day she had with Sailor Mercury.

Chloe hadn't intended to publish that third article at first, as seeing she was only using that as an excuse to check up on the 92-year-old lady. but she figured that it couldn't hurt at all. Besides, Eva didn't know much about the Sailor Warriors or where they came from. So the topic had more about how Rhett actually held the world record for world's oldest cat. Apparently, Rhett had been given to Eva when she was a young girl in the year 1926, and the two had grown up together. That made Rhett more than 70 years old today... and he still acted like he was a young tomboy.

Scientists who specialized in animal biology and longevity, often visited Eva and Rhett in an attempt to find out how the cat managed to live so long when most cats didn't even last past 15 years.

While it sounded like a mundane topic, Chloe found it fascinating considering that Rhett had been a guardian for one of the stones of power. The fact that this cat used to be some kind of alien moon-cat beast, and were one of the guardians, could have played a part in the cat's unusual lifespan.

So it had been a simple article about the world's oldest cat, with a small tidbit at the end about Eva's run-in with a “Sailor Mercury”.   
“I thought at first that maybe she just a very strange woman. Erm, you sometimes hear about Smallville being nicknamed America’s strangest town for certain reasons. Oh yes, I've heard the stories from other residents here....but I never thought I'd get to see some of that strange stuff in person.” Eva had said.

“What kind of strange stuff did you see with Sailor Mercury?” Chloe had asked, wanting to make sure that whatever Eva saw couldn't be used against the Sailor Warriors or would put Eva in danger.

Eva had hesitated at this, not wanting to sound crazy. Finally, she just said it. “She had those glowing screens floating around her. Like what you see in those science fiction films where they show high-tech computers, only she wasn't using a computer... from what I could tell. It was like magic. Then there was that horrible man....”

“What man?”

Eva hesitated again. “Well.... he was some strange man I didn't know, but Mercury kept on calling him Dominic. I thought at first that he was some sort of door to door salesman, because he had this really seedy look to him. And then my cat escaped, and he stopped me from going after Rhett... that was when Mercury showed up, you see. Then later on when Mercury was helping me look for my cat, we both saw that horrid man turn my cat into a monster! Mercury kept on telling me this Dominic was going to turn me into a monster.... but he did that to my poor baby instead. Somebody really should do something about that man! At least I got my darling Rhett back... I don't know what I would have done if I wasn't able to get him back.”

Chloe nodded. “Those Sailor Warriors do seem to have an uncanny knack for getting things back to normal. Well, thanks for giving me this interview... I'm sure that other students at Smallville High will love learning about the world's oldest cat!”

Eva had seen her out, simply relived that somebody had believed an old lady like her. Because after all, people were prone to dismiss stories like that as the crazy ramblings of an senile old lady.

With that, all of the past events had been wrapped up nicely...

Chloe put up those newspaper articles of hers on the wall of weird, and then took a step back to view her collection. She sighed contentedly.

It had been so nice to do some newspaper reporting again for a change...her duties as an Sailor Warrior had basically took up so much of her time lately!

Clark burst into the room, and then looked at Chloe with wide eyes. “Chloe! Something strange happened again!”

Chloe turned around, and smiled. It seemed this week was shaping up to be such a interesting one already. Maybe she could even get yet another article for her Torch Newspaper. “Oh? Do tell.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
\--during lunch break--

Clark gathered everyone together at the Talon coffee shop, at an table that was isolated from the rest of the place, before he spoke.

“Everyone, I've asked you here to see if you've all heard the weird rumors about Sailor Krypton. Namely, that he's been running around town saving people from various accidents and other disasters.” Clark asked, with a very solemn look on his face.

Lana smiled. “Oh yes... that's all the customers seem to be talking about whenever they come into here for a coffee lately. I got to hand it to you, Clark.... you really take this Superhero business very seriously.... it's amazing.”

Clark sighed. He normally would had loved hearing that kind of praise from his secret crush. Only problem was, it wasn't him that did it... so he couldn't really accept that kind of praise with a clear conscience.

Chloe then spoke, “That's the thing... Clark tells me that he couldn't have done those deeds at all... he was busy with schoolwork and then were at the farm all day working. And at the same time, somebody was going around as Sailor Krypton.”

“But if it wasn't Clark, then who could be doing those things...?” Pete wondered.

Clark hmmed at this. He then said, “Normally, I would say it was probably somebody who got inspired by us and wanted to hog some of our fame and glory. But.... I can't see how any guy in his right mind who would want to go out fighting crime in thigh-high boots. No offense to the designer who made the clothes for Sailor Krypton, but the Sailor uniform is kind of embarrassing for any guy to wear.”

Lex chuckled. “Actually, the sailor uniform for Krypton itself isn't so bad... but those boots does tend to make the whole ensemble seem very over the top. I think if you found a way to exchange those thigh-high boots for something that most guys could wear... then the uniform would look more respectable, I think.”

Clark looked slightly hopeful at this. “You think? I wonder if I could find a way to modify the uniform...”

Chloe cleared her throat. “Guys? Need to get back on track here. So, Clark is basically saying that because he finds it kind of embarrassing to wear that Sailor Uniform in public, he doesn't think that any other males in their right mind would want to pretend to be Sailor Krypton. Thoughts?”

Lana smirked. “Well...Clark's obviously wrong, because there's somebody out there pretending to be him.”

Pete frowned. “And what if he does something that would get the real Sailor Krypton into trouble? Doing it for the publicity might end up going to the imposter's head.... somebody could get hurt. So obviously we have to find out who this person is, and stop him.”

Lex nodded. “I think we all obviously agree on that front. But can we also agree to remain cautious? This also smells like an set-up to me...It just seems like the sort of thing my father would do, for some reason.”

Chloe smiled. “Whatever, we'll get a story out of it for the Torch...so remember to keep recorders and pens handy. That's really the most important thing we can do today.”

The others gave Chloe a strange look at this statement. Chloe then smiled sheepishly. “Besides saving the world, that is...?”

Pete rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I think you're a tad too obsessed with the newspaper...you need to get another hobby besides reporting, I think.”

Clark couldn't help but nod in agreement at this, and Lex was trying to stifle his chuckles at Pete's comment.

Chloe couldn't help but gasp dramatically, acting hurt in a mocking way. “Golly gee, is that any way to talk to your boss? I should just fire all of you...”

Pete chuckled. “Yeah, right. You need us way too much, and you know it. Besides, we don't even get paid for this... any sales we get for the newspaper goes right to the school.”

Lex was outright chuckling now, not even bothering to hide it anymore.

Lana squirmed in her seat. She couldn't help but feel like some sort of fifth wheel... she basically had nothing to contribute to this discussion.

So she got up from her seat, and said: “So, it's agreed then... we get together after school? I need to get back to work now, so just call me if you need me for anything.”

Clark smiled at her. “Sure. If things ever go south, it's nice to know that you're there to back us up.”

Lana smiled at this, and nodded. 

She would had left the table then, if it wasn't for a commotion outside. The entire group then rushed out to see what was going on, only for their view to be hindered by a crowd.

“What's going on?” Chloe called out, as she jumped upwards in an attempt to look over people's heads.

Somebody in the crowd turned his head, and told her: “There's a bank robbery going on down the street at Smallville Savings and Loans! The cops are in the area dealing with it though... they set up an barricade and everything.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bank robbers was doing a very good job of thoroughly traumatizing the customers and the bank staff inside with their promises of what they'd do to the people if they didn't get their money.

“Hey, they only have 5,000 dollars in the bank here... what gives?” one of the bank robbers grumbled.

The other one chuckled. “I guess this means we'll just have to hold the people here hostage... maybe ransom them for more money?”

“Hold it right there!” A male-sounding voice rang out.

“Huh? Who's there?” The bank robbers spun around to see Sailor Krypton standing in front of the doors.

“I can't forgive those who would turn to a life of crime instead of working hard for what they've got. A champion of love and justice, I am the handsome warrior Sailor Krypton! On the behalf of those innocent people, I'll punish you!” The Sailor-clad man posed as he made that speech.

The bank robbers wasted no time in gunning down the Sailor warrior with the machine guns they had... only to gape in shock when the bullets pretty much deflected off him.

Sailor Krypton smirked evilly, and launched his attack. “Tiara action!”   
A glowing boomerang appeared in his hand, and he threw it at the bank robbers... knocking all of the weapons out of their hands.

He then super-sped around the bank robbers... and in a blink of a eye all of them were tied up.

Sailor Krypton then turned to face the amazed customers. He smiled sweetly, and told them: “Not to worry, everyone! You're all safe now that Sailor Krypton is on the scene.”

He then walked outside, where everyone was now frantically taking pictures of him. The cops had their guns trained on him just in case....

Sailor Krypton just looked at them with his cold steel-blue eyes. “The robbers are in there... all tied up.” With that, he teleported... seemingly having vanished into thin air.

The cops just stood there, with their mouth hanging open. One of them asked the other cops: “Did you see that? He just vanished!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At that point Chloe and the others had wormed their way to the front of the barricade. So they had came just in time to see Sailor Krypton walk out, talk to the cops and then vanish.

“So that's the guy who's been posing as me.” Clark whispered to the others, “But he didn't do a very good job on his outfit.”

“Yeah, the colors is all wrong on his uniform.” Lana said.

Lex frowned. “I don't trust that guy... he has a cold look about him... it actually reminds me of Lionel too much.”

Pete held up his cellphone. “I managed to get video of him before he disappeared... so I guess we could analyze that and try to find out who he is?”

Chloe bounced up and down at this, and grinned wildly. “Great! You're very dependable today, Pete... Now, I'm gonna go see if I can get a few interviews with the bank customers and the police, okay? Just think, this could be our fourth article in a week!”

Before anybody else in the group could respond, she rushed off.

Lana blinked. “Is it me, or does Chloe seem more focused on her newspaper than usual?”

Pete nodded. “I think she's making up for all the lost time... you see, she didn't get to do much investigative reporting ever since this Sailor Warrior business started up. The articles centering around the cat incident was actually the first one she got in a entire month of inactivity.”

“Oh... I see.” Lana replied, not knowing what to say to that.

Lex smirked. “Never mind that we were doing normal school articles the whole time whenever we were at school. Chloe doesn't seem to count those as real newspaper articles... she seems to be addicted to doing articles about the bizarre and the inexplicable... It's like an habit that she can't kick.”

Lana simply nodded at this. This did seem to explain Chloe's behavior today.

Clark then looked at his watch. He then gasped out loud. “Oh no!! I'm late for classes. I've got to go now. See you guys tonight at school?”

Both Pete and Lana nodded, and Clark went to look for a place where he could super-speed away without anybody seeing him.

Unknown to the group, there was a 9-year-old girl with a black dog watching them.

“Did you hear that, Kandora...? Seems like we stumbled into something very interesting...” Linda smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now 5pm, just hours after school was officially closed to most students with the exception of those who were in after school clubs.

The Torch crew and Lana was now gathered together in the Torch office, and they were all behind Chloe as she worked on her computer.

They leaned over her as she showed everyone the video that Pete had recorded of the false Sailor Krypton.

“I analyzed this video thoroughly... I have to say, it's strange. it's like he got facial surgery to look exactly like a black and white photo or sketch of Sailor Krypton. He would look exactly like Sailor Krypton if he didn't get the color shades all wrong... from his hair to his Sailor Uniform.”

Lana for some reason couldn't help but think of Tina Greener. “Well... maybe the person didn't get facial surgery but had the ability to morph into other people...? Lex, remember the time Tina Greener impersonated you and when she came after me?”

Lex's eyes lit up. “Oh yes...that could explain it. But last time I checked, Tina Greener was still in lockup. Maybe it's another mutant with the same ability?”

As the teens started theorizing about who it could be, there was a certain somebody listening in from outside.

Linda was in a tree, holding what seemed to be a high-tech listening device.  
Kandora was down on the ground, looking up at Linda.

Kandora couldn't help but sigh for what seemed to be the 1,000th time. “I still don't see why you couldn't just walk up and introduce yourself to them....”

Linda rolled her eyes. “And I've told you already! Just think about it... It would be utterly anti-climatic for the last Sailor Warrior to just walk up and tell the others that she's one too. It's so much more dramatic If she just mysteriously appears and saves everyone at the last second.”

Linda then pouted. “Besides, you didn't even tell me that the others would be so much older than I am! How am I supposed to be taken seriously by such old people if they don't even know what I'm capable of? I need a good chance to show how bad-ass I am... and thus why I need a good dramatic moment to make my appearance.”

Kandora sighed again. “Okay, okay... I kind of see where you're coming from. Although I wish you wouldn't treat this as if this was some kind of action movie.”

back in the room, Krypto was listening to the police radio while the Torch crew was doing their research on the computer.

The white dog alerted the others once he found a very interesting police report over the police radio.  
“Guys! Come listen to this... our fake Sailor Krypton is on the move again.”

the others then rushed towards the dog, and bundled together around the police radio to listen.

~~~~~~~~~~~

\--20 minutes earlier---

Two cops were sitting in a police car together on one of the back roads. They were on the watch-out for speeding cars, since the local teenagers here loved to drag-race at the risk of other people.

But this night, there wasn't that much happening... so they were mostly gossiping about local events.

“So did you hear about some weirdo going around calling himself Sailor Krypton?” The policeman at the steering wheel asked.

The second policeman passed the first policeman some oatmeal cookies, and took a bite out of the one he had in his hand. He then nodded. “Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about him lately...”

The first one scoffed. “Just what we need... another freak running around.”

the policeman with the cookie in his hands then replied: “I don't know, I think it's kind of nice that we have somebody like him helping out for a change.... you know, as opposed to the usual trouble.”

his friend scoffed. “Yeah right... he's just grandstanding... wanting some attention. And on top of it, he creates way too much paperwork for us.”

“Jeez, Tom. Way to be overly pessimistic.” the cop rolled his eyes, as he finished the rest of his cookie.

“Hey, I'm just being realistic here.” Tom said, “I honestly can't see this so-called Sailor Krypton swooping down to save our asses whenever we're in trouble. Besides, if he wanted to be some kind of superhero I have to say he picked such a strange name. What kind of name is Sailor Krypton anyway... whatever happened to the classics like Warrior Angel? Now THAT was a good, manly name if you ask me.”

The cookie cop chuckled. “You used to read warrior angel as a kid? I was a fan of the teenage ninja turtle comics myself....”

Before Tom could even respond, there was a loud explosion in the distance.

The cops looked at each other, and leapt to action. The sirens turned on, and the police car sped off in the direction of the explosion.

They then got out of the vehicle once they saw what was happening there.

It turned out that the Sailor Krypton they had been talking about, were being chased by some flying shadowy figures who kept on shooting off laser beams that exploded when it made contact with the ground.

“Who the hell are you? Leave me alone!” Sailor Krypton screamed loudly enough, so that the policemen could hear everything that was going on even though they were still an considerable distance away.

The shadowy figures chuckled loudly, and said in an overly dramatic way: “You know what you did, Sailor Krypton. You keep on interfering with our plans of conquest... so therefore you're not allowed to live anymore!”

With that, they continued to send some blasts of laser energy his way.

“Damn, looks like we have to call backup...” Tom said... as he reached for the radio.

But just as he was about to touch the radio, he found himself teleported into the arms of those shadowy figures.

His panther was caught up in the same fate, as they struggled in vain to break the shadows' grips on them.

Officer Tom couldn't help but gulp nervously as the shadow being lifted him upwards into the sky. Before they knew it, they were more than 100 feet high off the ground.

“Sailor Krypton, if you don't surrender right away... those policemen are going to bite the dust in more than one way.” The shadows cackled.

Sailor Krypton looked up at them from the ground with an troubled expression on his face.

“A-alright... just don't hurt them! I'll go with you...” He finally said.

The shadows couldn't help but let out maniacal evil laughter.  
Ropes materialized around Sailor Krypton, and started tying him up on it's own.

The policemen found themselves being lowered safely to the ground.  
“You're very lucky that the boy scout here decided to do the right thing...” The shadows told the policemen, with a sneer in their voices.

Before the police could even whip out their guns, the shadows teleported away with Sailor Krypton in their custody.

Officer Tom rubbed his head, as he got up. “Damn.... we got to tell the others about this...”

They rushed back to their police car in order to report what had happened over the radio.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That's when they vanished into air....what do we do? Over.” The policeman's voice said over the radio.

The torch crew looked at each other, and without even saying a word everyone transformed into their Sailor Warrior forms.

“Can you track them down? This guy might be a fake, and this might be an setup.... but we still can't sit around doing nothing when he might be in danger!” The real Krypton asked of Mercury.

“Already on it.” Mercury said, as holo-screens popped up around her.

A mixture of Kryptonian and English symbols flashed on her screens, and Mercury then told the group: “There's some signs of zoner activity at some Luthorcorp building site 20 miles outside of Smallville. I'm guessing that he's being held there.”

“Can I go with you guys? Maybe I could sneak in and help the guy out while you distract the Zoners.” Lex Luthor suggested hopefully. He had been left out of this for the past week, and this time he did not want to be left out again.

Sailor Krypton grinned at his best friend. “Of course! But I'd have to carry you... if that's okay.”  
Lex simply nodded, and with that everyone was off running towards the site.

Sailor Venus and Kandora was also following them from a distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nixon couldn't help but gloat as his plan was coming together. Surely the Sailor Warriors had to notice the increased Zoner activity around here.... and especially the unusual dark energy that he was no longer shielding from the world.

He supposed this was how they had kept on finding that idiot Dominic no matter what he did. Dominic was such a pampered idiot who were used to running all those easy errands and had zero experience when it came to battling enemies. He even kept on wimping out and running away every time he ran into any strong opponents.... even though he was supposed to seize the crystals away from them.

It was no wonder why Lionel Luthor finally got fed up with his favorite aide and put him into “Eternal sleep” the same way he did with his own wife.

He looked upwards as Manegin let herself be hoisted up by an crane the size of a ten-story building. She was still dressed up as Sailor Krypton....

Nixon unleashed more of his dark energy into the sky, causing more of the dark clouds to grow overhead. The sound of thunder started to rumble everywhere with an heavy ominous air. He nodded, sissified that the atmosphere was just right.

{{Jeez... don't you think you're overdoing the drama a little bit?}} Manegin sent him an telepathic message that nobody else could hear. {{ If you over do this and treat this as some sort of play instead of an actual threat.... they're not going to buy it at all.}}

{{ Don't worry... I've been studying the Sailor Warriors for a while... and they're definitely not the cautious type. They seem to gravitate towards any spots that has the slightest amount of supernatural activity. So this sort of thing would be seen as an welcome mat to them, rather than an trap....}} Nixon answered, as he sent back an telepathic feeling of strong self-confidence.

With that, he sent up materialized shadow puppets to float around the fake Sailor Krypton. The shadow puppets looked like creepy floating people in cloaks, and they sent out energy bolts towards the imposter that looked painful to any outsider but were more like a light show for the “victim”.

The fake Sailor warrior reacted appropriately, writing as if “he” was in pain.

“Ahhhh!!” Manegin cried out in an sotto male voice, “I can't tell you anything I don't know about! So please stop torturing me.... somebody help me!”

Maneqin couldn't help but think to herself that she hoped that the Sailor warriors would get here very soon... this could get old fast if she had to keep this up all night.

“Hold it right there!” A male voice rang out, “Tying up a young boy like that is just in bad taste! The champion of Justice, The real Sailor Krypton, is here! On behalf of this impostor I'll punish you!”

Nixon smirked as he looked around. He saw Sailor Krypton and the other Sailor warriors standing on top of some vehicles. “So, you came...”

Mercury whispered to Mars, “Did Krypton just say what I thought he said?”

Mars snickered. “Yeah... apparently he thinks there's a right way to tie up young boys... I'm never going to let him live that one down once we're done with this situation.”

Sailor Krypton couldn't help but flush slightly as he overheard. “Guys, focus! We've got to watch out for any traps....”

“It's too late!” Nixon cackled, as a dark dome suddenly appeared around the Sailor Warriors.

The Sailor Warriors jumped off the vehicles and rushed towards the edges of the dark dome. Sailor Krypton pounded against it using all of his super-strength, but it barely made a dent.

“Supreme thunder!” Jupiter cried out, as she sent a bolt of lighting against the dark dome in an attempt to break it.

Mars nodded in approval at Jupiter's idea, and called out her attack. “Fire soul!!”

None of it was effective at all....

Mercury was already bringing up holo-screens of her scans on the dome. “It's no use... it seems to be absorbing our attacks somehow!”

Nixon smirked as he walked over to the dome. “That's right... and it can do more than that.... it can send your attacks back at you!”

He snapped his fingers, and the dark dome started raining explosives on the inside. The explosives seemed to be containing parts of Sailor Mar's fire soul attack, which was unleashed back on the Sailor Warriors upon impact. 

The sailor warriors were lucky though, and managed to dodge most of the fire attacks. However, Following that up was Jupiter's supreme thunder attack, which felt like a dozen tasers going off once they hit the Sailor group.

Nixon laughed, as he snapped his fingers again. The dome started to shrink down to restrict the Sailor Warriors' movement.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex was staying true to his word and were now sneaking towards the crane in order to lower the fake Sailor Krypton and get him to safety. This was basically the plan he had made with the Sailor Warriors.... he'd go save the guy while the others distracted the bad guys.

That is, if this fake Sailor Krypton was in fact just some innocent glory hog who had no idea that the fate of the world was lying on the line here. If Lex found any evidence that the fake was working for Lionel then he'd leave him to hang forever instead.

He knew that Clark probably wouldn't approve of that viewpoint... but Lex always believed that anybody working for his father couldn't possibly be redeemed, or made to see the error of their ways. He had seen how Lionel corrupted those who worked closely with him, often to the point where the people were no longer able to return back to the person they once were.

Lex smirked when he saw that nobody were around to guard the crane's controls. He rushed towards the control, and quickly started pressing the buttons to lower the fake Sailor Krypton.

He frowned when he realized that the crane's movement should had caught Nixon’s eye... And he looked back to check what Nixon was doing. But it seems that Nixon was so caught up in taunting the Sailor Warriors that he didn't notice.

Lex then rushed around to where the fake Sailor Krypton was once he was on the ground... but recoiled in shock when he realized that the fake was gone.

Somebody grabbed him from behind, and Lex automatically struggled to get free... but the grip on him was supernaturally strong.

“Heh... this human here tried to free the fake Sailor Krypton it seems... think he's with the Sailor Warriors?” Manegin wondered aloud as she dragged him over to Nixon. She was no longer dressed up as Sailor Krypton.

Instead, she had reverted back to her original alien form....which was that of an “nude” humanoid form resembling a barbie doll's body. Her body had no genitals to speak of, and were smooth all over. This seemed creepy and eerie, especially given that she also had no nose and mouth. Her eyes and hair seemed to be the only “human” characteristics she had that reflected her true gender.

Manegin had been watching out for any suspicious activity while she was tied up and hung on the crane, and actually could had gotten free anytime she wished. She had chosen to act once she saw what Lex Luthor was doing.

Nixon turned around to see his Zoner assistant dragging Lex over to him.

Sailor Krypton gasped when he saw that they had caught Lex. “Oh no!”

Nixon narrowed his eyes. “I can't believe this... You're Lionel Luthor's son, yet you're working with those pitiful wretches? I wonder what our lord would say once he found out that his own son was working against him.”

Phlean materialized out of nowhere, and replied: “Good work, Nixon. I'll take it from here.”

Nixon growled. This was just another thing he didn't need at all! “Phlean.... what the fuck are you doing here? This is my mission... so you stay out of this!”

Phlean smirked. “Oh, but I can't. I'm acting on Lionel Luthor's orders, you see.... once he found out about your plan to capture the Sailor Warriors, he thought this would be an excellent opportunity to take back the stones of power from those kids. If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself...”

With that, Phlean held up an black orb that floated upwards out of his hand. The orb glowed, and a hologram of Lionel Luthor appeared.

“Nixon. I want you to work together with Phlean to take back the stones of power, and to eradicate those Sailor Warriors. I shall be watching you both to see how this turns out.....”

Nixon's eyebrows twitched. He truly hated how Phlean kept on trying to take over everything he did... and knowing Phlean he would also try to take credit for the whole thing.

But, he couldn't protest this turn of events without angering Lionel Luthor. So he tried his best to act like the whole thing didn't bother him. He smiled coldly at Phlean and answered: “I shall do as you say, Lord Luthor.”

Phlean smiled victoriously. He then turned around to face the trapped Sailor Warriors. “I have you now, Sailor Krypton! There is no way to escape....you better hand over the stones of power... or else!”

“No way!” Sailor Krypton said as he pounded his fists against the dome, “You're crazy if you think we'll hand those crystals over to you so easily!”

“Fire soul!!” Sailor Mars cried out as she tried to break open the dome's barrier.  
“Supreme Thunder!!” Sailor Jupiter helped out as well, but it was no use at all.

Sailor Mercury was furiously trying to find the dome's weakness, as she scanned the entire area. Holo-screens flashed all around her, but none seemed to have the result she wanted.

The dome was shrinking by the minute, and now the Sailor Warriors had no more room to dodge the attacks that was redirected back at them. They all screamed as the fire and electricity engulfed them.

Phlean smirked. “I see... your strong will is quite admirable. But, can you allow an innocent civilian to die because you refused me?”

With that, he gestured for Manegin to bring Lex Luthor over.

Nixon's eyes widened at this. “What are you doing, Phlean?? He's the son of Lionel Luthor!”

Phlean then looked up at the large hologram of Lionel Luthor. “Permission to torture your son, sir.”

Lionel Luthor's hologram smirked. “Permission granted. He's always been a thorn in my side, for as long as I remember, anyway. This time, Lex Luthor can pay me back for what he's done in both the past life and this life.”

Nixon stared on with an shocked expression. He always knew that his lord was ruthless, but to do this to his own son....

Manegin's eyes glowed with an eerie delight. Now they were getting to the fun part of the evening!  
In her eagerness, she bent one of Lex's arms backwards in such a way that instantly broke it.

“Aaahhh!” Lex Luthor screamed as his right arm broke in two pieces. Manegin had made sure to make it messy as possible...there was even bone protruding though his skin, to show how severe the break was. Blood gushed out of the wound, and dripped downwards to pool at his feet.

“Stop it!!” Sailor Krypton screamed. “Don't hurt him anymore, please!”

Phlean chuckled. “Then give up your stones...”

Sailor Krypton let out an small whimper without realizing it, as he was caught in an serious predicament.

“You're seriously not thinking of giving him those stones, are you? We have no proof that he'll even let him go if we hand it over... for all we know, this creep might kill everyone here once he got the stones!” Sailor Mercury said, as she glanced between Phlean and Sailor Krypton.

“I know, but... Lex....” Sailor Krypton said, torn between his duty and his desire to protect his best friend at all costs.

“Crescent Beam!!” a young girl's voice rang out, and a yellow laser of light hit both Nixon and Phlean at once. Somehow, the dark dome disappeared soon as Nixon was hit.

A young girl in a orange sailor uniform and red mask appeared in an rather over-dramatic fashion. She then posed, declaring: “A champion of Love and Justice, I am the cute warrior Sailor Venus! All the way from England, I arrive in the nick of time to save the day!”

Manegin growled, upset that her fun had been interrupted. She then lunged at the young girl... but to her surprise the child moved at super-speed and before she knew it she was knocked up high into the air by an super-punch.

“Crescent Beam.” The girl said quietly, as she pointed upwards at the zoner monster as it was falling backwards to earth. The laser shot out of her finger, and she was reduced to dust.

Two black and white blurs sped around, and in an blink of eye Lex Luthor disappeared.

Sailor Venus then giggled, as she turned to face both Nixon and Phlean. “Now what will you do? The Sailor Warriors are free, and your hostage is gone.”

Nixon growled, as he glared at Phlean. “See, Phlean? you have a tendency to fuck up everything you touch. That's how useless and annoying you are! Fortunately, I already had an backup plan in case you ever got involved....”

With that, his aura stared glowing a bright red. Dark winds picked up all of the construction materials up, creating an large black tornado. A dark, ugly-looking skyscraper tower then started raising up out of the ground in the eye of the tornado..... quickly swallowing up the Sailor Warriors and everyone else in the area so that they couldn't escape!

The winds calmed down after a few minutes... and now everyone was gone. Only a dark, ominous skyscraper tower stood as a monument to the battle.


	12. The Kryptonian prince is Revealed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically a Smallville remix of two Sailor Moon episodes... basically the episodes which takes place in Crystal Tokyo Tower, where the Moon princess is revealed and then they have to fight their way out.  
>  Naturally, since there was no such place in Smallville It then had to be created out of almost nothing but pure magic. :P  
>  As you can see, from now on I'm going to be compressing a lot of Sailor Moon episodes together, in order to speed up the storyline... after all, All of the Smallville Sailor Warriors basically know who Lionel Luthor is, and they're also not the type to waffle about with the fate of the world lying on the line. ;)

“What the hell did you do?” Phlean wondered, as he frowned at Nixon.

Nixon smirked. “Isn't it obvious? I created a new dimensional space using the construction materials. On the outside, it looks like a ugly skyscraper tower to the rest of the world... but inside here, it's a maze from which the Sailor Warriors cannot escape!”

He then walked around Phlean. “You see... unlike you, I always have backup plans in case my first plans don't work. I had a strong feeling that you were going to come along and fuck up my plans with your hare-brained antics, so I planned for such a contingency.”

Phlean narrowed his eyes. He didn't really like it when others looked better at doing their jobs compared to him. He realized that Lionel Luthor was still watching their every move, so he simply put on an arrogant front.

“Whatever... as long as I can have my revenge against Sailor Krypton and get back the stones, I don't really care what you do.” He declared, and teleported off to look for the Sailor warriors.

Nixon sighed. He then smirked himself, realizing that since he was the one to create the maze.... that he'd be able to find the Sailor warriors themselves and deal with them first before Phlean ever did.

He'd be the one to win Lionel's favor, not that idiot!

With that thought in mind, Nixon teleported too as well.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Sailor Warriors found themselves in a whole new place, with Lex Luthor and the dogs.

“Where the heck are we? This looks like such a creepy-ass place....” Sailor Mars commented, as she looked around and took notice of the way the walls seemed entirely too organic... almost looked like raised blood vessels under the skin. She shuddered.

“The important question is... who is this little girl? Is she another fake?” Sailor Jupiter pointed at the young girl in the orange uniform.

Sailor Krypton looked down at the young girl, who grinned at all of them. He then replied, “I remember her! Cho—err, Mercury once showed me an newspaper article of some Sailor Warrior working in London... this was long before we joined the sailor warrior business ourselves. Sailor V... wasn't it?”

Sailor Venus stepped toward, with a bright smile on her face. She then introduced herself with a strong British accent: “Ah, you've heard of me, then. Good... so this can cut down on the long introductions. As you know, I'm Sailor Venus... a Sailor warrior who's been training for the day that we finally defeat Zod and put an end to all this nasty business.”

She then gestured at the black dog next to her. “And this is Kandora, my partner who's been helping me train for this very day.”

The black dog nodded at all of them. She remarked: “You all seem perfectly capable... which is surprising how careless Krypto can be when it comes to this mission. To tell you the truth, I was halfway convinced that he might pick the wrong sort of people.... I'm glad I was wrong on that front. At any rate I hope we shall get along.”

Krypto smiled. “Same as always, I see... although I wish you would tone it down on those pointed barbs. We've got to work together, after all!”

Lex Luthor couldn't help but let out a loud cry as Sailor Mercury reset the broken bones in his right arm. Sailor Krypton practically super-sped over to his side.

“Is he alright??” Sailor Krypton anxiously asked, as he looked Lex over.

Lex winched as Mercury tied his arm tightly with some torn clothing from his shirt. His face was completely pale, and he looked up at Krypton. He smiled, and said softly: “I'm fine... just suffering from mild blood loss and a few broken bones in my arm. That's all.”

Mercury shook her head. “You know, I still can't believe that Lionel was willing to let his guys do this to you.... I mean, I knew he was evil and working for Zod, but still.”

Lex scoffed, as he struggled to get up. “I'm not surprised... after all, the only reason why he even married Lillian and had me is so that he could have heirs to his empire. He doesn't even see me as an son at all.... all he cares about is gathering power, both mystical and political. If anything this just cements my conviction that helping you guys overthrow him was the right thing to do.”

Sailor Krypton helped Lex stand, and then hugged him. “Even so... that's just too horrible for words. A father shouldn't be doing that to his own son!”

Sailor Venus was staring at the three with rapt interest. She couldn't help it... the fact that the Enemy leader's son had defected to their side made for some great drama.

Meanwhile, the dogs were conversing as they looked at Sailor Krypton.

“So that's him... he seems different, yet somehow still the same personality he was back in the silver millennium.” Kandora commented. “Has he awakened fully yet?”

Krypto shook his head. He then quietly told her: “I've been busy getting the Sailor Warriors used to battle and the like. The enemy was already here, so I had no choice but to arm the prince and make him Sailor Krypton. This was the only way he could defend himself before he was fully awakened.”

Kandora nodded. “Under the circumstances, you did the right thing. It's just a pity we don't have all three stones of power.... we'd be able to fully awaken him with those.”

Krypto made a whining sound at this. “I know... such a shame.”

“Guys, as much as I love doing nothing but stand around chatting... I think we should try to find a way out!” Sailor Mars grumbled, as she looked around.

Sailor Jupiter nodded. “I got to agree, actually... we're sitting ducks here waiting for the enemy to appear again!”

everyone was in agreement, and so with that the group started moving down the hallway.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trying to find the way out was easier than said... because all levels of the tower seemed more like a extra-dimensional maze than anything else. There was rooms that looked like it came straight out of Escher’s wet dreams, while others looked like an actual labyrinth.

That wasn't even the worst part.... there was times when they barely took a few steps and they'd find themselves in a whole different space completely.

“Man, this place is totally buggered...” Sailor Venus mumbled in her heavy London accent.

“I don't even know what you said, but I agree with you... I think.” Sailor Mars said.

“You're the brains of this group... any ideas on how we can get out of this mess?” Jupiter asked of Mercury.

Chloe sighed. She didn't really feel a genius at all. Lex was really the true genius of the group... but right now she was the one with the scanning and holo-screen abilities. So now it was all on her to save this group right now it seemed.

She squinted at some of her holo-screens. “Uhh..... this screen's telling me something. Um, This dimension is apparently an imaginary space that's been sealed off. In short, theoretically, the real dimension we were in is not directly connected to the three-dimensional space here. Instead, they should be connected only in two-dimensional space with the positive and negative phases reversed and passing through zero-dimensional space." 

“Uh, what? I didn't even understand any of that.” Mars grumbled.

Mercury smiled apologetically. “I didn't really understand it neither.... I'm just telling you guys what the computer told me.”

Lex Luthor couldn't help but look awed, being the only one in the group to understand that explanation completely. “oh wow, that means we're in an man-made pocket dimension! I wonder how much energy was needed to create all of this... and whenever it could even be recreated with a machine. Think of all the possible applications if it wasn't being used for evil!”

Mars rolled his/her eyes. “Of course Lex the super-geek understands it... why am I not surprised? At times like this I think he should had been Sailor Mercury instead of you. Then he'd be able to make heads and tails out of that crap that your supercomputer spews. No offense, Ch--Mercury.”

Mercury chuckled. “No way I'm giving up my mercury wand! There's way too many perks to being Mercury for me to give it up at all.”

Sailor Krypton interrupted their banter as he pointed at a red door. “Hey guys? I used my x-ray eye vision on one of the doors... and well, I think this may lead us on the right path... Mercury, can you scan this door just to make sure?”

Mercury started scanning the door.... and that was when Sailor Venus struck up an conversation with the rest.

“You know.... I've been noticing that some of you keep on starting to call each other by your names, but you catch yourself in time and use your alias instead. Why is this?”

Sailor Jupiter looked down at the young girl. “Well... it might be because the enemy's watching us? After all, we have no idea if there's cameras in this place or not.”

the young girl blinked. “Ooh, good point. So I guess I shouldn't use my real name at all until we're in a safe space, then.”

Jupiter simply nodded at this.

Mercury spun around. “This is great! I think my computer finally figured out a pattern to this stupid place.... with this, we'll be out of here in no time! Come on, follow me.”

with that, she passed though the red door like it wasn't there.

The other sailor warriors looked at each other, and started following Mercury's cue one by one.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lionel Luthor sat on his throne, watching three large hovering spheres before him. The spheres were like a magical version of a TV screen, each one spying on whatever it was that Lionel wanted to see.

The first two were of his subordinates, while the final one was focused on the Sailor Warriors' movement.

Lionel couldn't help but smirk when he overheard Sailor Venus's question to Jupiter, and Jupiter's response.

The phantom zone window hovered above his head, and there was a distorted image of an black-haired, bearded guy that appeared occasionally in the phantom zone's rotating window. But thanks to Lionel's efforts, that image was getting more clearer and more stronger all the time.

“You see, Zod? Even though there has been some unfortunate... setbacks... my subordinates still has their uses. One way or the other, we will have those stones of power no matter what!” Lionel commented as he watched the spheres. He then held up the crystal of water for emphasis.

The alien voice spoke from the Phantom Zone window.

Lionel chucked. “No, you don't need to worry about my son. Quite frankly, I wasn't surprised that he turned out to be an traitor... again. He was always so rebellious back then... and he still is in this life. Honestly, The only reason why I even let him live beyond his fifth birthday is because he made me remember my past life... even if he doesn't realize it. If it wasn't for him, I would had never managed to contact you again. But maybe I'm too sentimental?”

There was a quizzical sound from the rotating window.

Lionel nodded. “Oh, but it's true... did I not tell you the story of how I found you again?”

He then recalled the day that his wife Lillian Luthor had came to him after one of her chemotherapy sessions, looking both excited and worried at the same time.

At the time, he had assumed that she had good news regarding her cancer judging by her expression. But it had been an massive surprise to find out that Lillian was pregnant with Lex... especially at a time like this when she was undergoing heavy chemotherapy.

Lionel and Lillian had been pleased over the news, but both of them were worried whenever the chemotherapy would affect the baby or not. The doctors and nurses had reassured them that it wouldn't affect the baby, but they weren't so sure.

Lex had been born into the world a very healthy baby...expect for one little quirk. For some reason, years after his birth there wasn't a single strand of hair to be found on his head. As a matter of fact, Lex didn't even have the tiny hairs all over his body that most human beings tended to... he was completely hairless all over, save for his eyebrows and eyelashes.

It completely baffled the doctors, who couldn't find the reason behind the non-existence of Lex's body hair. Lillian on the other hand, had blamed the Chemotherapy itself. After all, it stood to reason that if it made Lillian bald during the process that it might had caused her baby to go permanently bald.

Lex had grown up believing this, but Lionel couldn't shake the feeling that it had been caused by something else. What was even more strange... that looking at his own son as he grew up was causing Lionel to have flashbacks to a life that he never had.

He had those dreams of a older Lex Luthor with red hair calling him an traitor to the Krypton Kingdom. Back then he didn't even know what those dreams meant... and he had attempted to ignore those dreams... but the dreams became such a reoccurring thing that he was compelled to try to find out what it all meant.

The more he found in journals and in ancient texts, the more questions he had. What was more amazing though... was the magical abilities that he had discovered in himself along the way.

Before all of that happened, Lionel Luthor had always been a man of science... and strongly scoffed at the very notion of magic. But his journey to find out what those dreams meant had made a strong believer out of him... and he discovered that he could easily manipulate people's minds with magic!  
With that, his thirst for power was reawakened... along with his own memories of a past life.

“with that I was able to contact you, Zod. Just think... if Lex Luthor hadn't been reborn into my family again, I might had never discovered that I had those powers, or of my own past. Yet, he's attempting to work against me again like he did during the Krypton kingdom’s time. Ironic, is it not?” Lionel explained, as he smirked slightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Sailor Warrior was making some good progress as they headed towards what they assumed was the exit.

However, to nobody's surprise Nixon was in their way.... and apparently were waiting for them.

“I knew this was too easy....” Sailor Mars grumbled as they dodged Nixon's attack.

“Let me handle him...After all, I was able to kick his bony little arse last time!” Sailor Venus giggled, as she fired up her crescent beam attack.

Nixon blocked the attack by adsorbing it, and growled. “You're going to pay for what you did back at the construction site, Sailor V!” He then sent Sailor V's energy beam back at her via some kind of dimensional portal.

Sailor Venus used her super-speed to get out of the way in time... but unfortunately it hit Sailor Mars instead.

“Arrgh!” Sailor Mars cried out as the attack hit her/him, and was sent flying against a wall.

“Guys, be more careful! Nixon seems to have the ability to adsorb our attacks and redirect them back at us!” Mercury said.

“Gee, way to state the obvious.” Mars groaned as she got up again.

“Well, he can't keep this up right? He's got to wear himself out eventually... Supreme thunder!!” Jupiter cried out as she launched her own attack against Nixon.

Sailor Krypton was in the back, acting as a protective shield for Lex Luthor. However he couldn't help but look torn as he wanted to help out the others too.

“You should help the others... I'll be fine back here.” Lex said.

Sailor Krypton looked back at him worriedly. “Are you sure? A stray attack could go off course and hit you...”

Lex scoffed at this. “You have super-speed! If anything happens I'm sure you'll reach me in time... so just go!”

Krypton couldn't help but smile at the faith that his best friend had in him. He nodded, and in a blink of eye he was now in front of Nixon.

Sailor Krypton moved fast, and unleashed an barrage of fast super-punches that sent Nixon flying against a wall at the far end of the room.

“That's it! Pay him back for what he did to me!” Mars cheered.

Lex was cheering too as well, and nobody noticed as phlean sneaked into the room until it was too late. 

Lex noticed some movement in the corner of his eyes, and only managed to react in time before Phlean's attack reached anybody else. He jumped into the path of the attack in order to shield the others from an sneak attack, and bore the brunt of the attack. Lex then went down sporting a large bloody gash in his chest.

The Sailor Warriors spun around, surprised. But their surprise turned to shock when they realized what had happened.

“Lex!” Sailor Krypton super-sped over to Lex's side, and in an blink of eye he was cradling Lex's body. “Oh god... please tell me you're alive, please...”

Phlean sighed. “So much for my surprise attack.... I was hoping I'd get to kill everyone in one shot. Oh well... I can take my time killing every one of you I suppose.”

Krypton then snapped his head up, shooting Phlean an hateful glare. That man wasn't even sorry about committing murder... he was so casual about the whole thing!

Sailor Krypton had never thought that there MIGHT be deaths what with the battle in preventing the end of the world and all. Most of the time they had always shied away from that subject, because it had seemed utterly unthinkable that any one of them could had been forced to confront something like this. And now one of his best friends in the entire world was dead.

without realizing it, an tear had rolled down his cheek.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lionel Luthor had been lovingly caressing the crystal of water in his hand while he watched the drama unfold on his floating spheres, when the crystal suddenly burned.

Lionel let out an undignified yelp as he dropped the glowing crystal, only for the crystal to fly away and disappear into thin air.

“What the hell??” Lionel jumped up as he tried in vain to summon the crystal back with his dark power. But the crystal was now beyond his reach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crystals that had been stashed away in both Chloe's and Pete's rooms were having an similar reaction, and actually caused a hole in their roof as they flew away into the night.

All three of the crystals managed to make their way into the pocket dimension space somehow, where they started merging in front of Sailor Krypton. 

“What's happening?” Phlean wondered aloud as the mysterious light appeared and engulfed Sailor Krypton.

The others was wondering the same thing, as they too watched with an transfixed expression on their face.

The red moon staff materialized out of nowhere, and the newly formed Sliver crystal started attaching itself to the staff. Meanwhile, Sailor Krypton's sailor suit was transforming into something else... an all-white armor suit with the S-Shield still on the front of his chest. There was a golden belt around his waist, which looked like an series of thick Os joined together by one round red gem in the middle. The red boots were no longer thigh-high, but now were red armor boots that stopped at his knees. The sailor collar had transformed into a long, blue cape with red lining around it. 

His forehead glowed, a small S-shield symbol appearing there and it become an solid decorative forehead accessory which was attached by a series of red-gold chains.

It was then that Krypto finally realized what was going on. “Oh my god, Sailor Krypton's fully awakened now! He's became the Kryptonian prince!”

This announcement caused a series of strong reactions from everyone.

“Wait, what? You're telling me that CLARK is the prince??” Sailor Mars muttered disbelievingly under her breath, as she pictured all the times that Clark would trip over his own feet or pig out at the pizza place's all you can eat buffet. It didn't really fit Pete’s idea of what an prince was like.

“So Sailor Krypton is the Kryptonian prince...huh, you would think that you'd see that one coming from a mile away.” Sailor Venus commented.

“So he's not just some guy who has a strong desire to do good...he's a prince on a white horse set out to save everyone he can. Somehow, that just seems to fit him so well.” Sailor Mercury said.

“Yeah, this is dramatic and all... but shouldn't we be doing something about the guys attacking us?” Jupiter couldn't help but point out.

Sure enough, both Phlean and Nixon (who just got up), was in the process of getting ready to attack.

But before the Sailor warriors could do anything, the prince grabbed his moon staff and held it up, unleashing an strong wave which knocked them back down. The crystal on the staff then emitted a strong healing light directly at Lex.

Lex's body glowed for a few seconds, and the bloody gash on his chest disappeared.

Lex groaned slightly, as he woke up. He felt disoriented... the last thing he remembered was trying to save the others from an sneak attack from the back of the room.

He then looked up into the face of Clark, who seemed to be dressed differently than his usual sailor suit. Somehow seeing him in that new outfit triggered a flood of memories which washed all over him.

“Kal-El...?” Lex uttered that name, with an disbelieving tone. Those memories felt like some sort of dream he was having... but at the same time it also felt real somehow.

Clark gasped, as that name triggered a series of memories from his end. He then said aloud: “Yes... that's right. I am Prince Kal-El of Krypton.... or at least I was before I got reborn...”

Phlean got back up again. “Prince or not, you're still going down!” With that he unleashed a volley of energy blasts that rained down on everyone else.

The sailor warriors dodged as much as they could, and retaliated in return.  
“Fire soul!”  
“Supreme Thunder!”  
“Bubble Spray blast!”  
“Crescent Beam!”

The moon staff was somehow able to shield Clark from the enemy's attack, as he pulled Lex to his feet. He then pulled Lex to his side protectively, as he held up his staff and continued to shield Lex from most of the attacks.

Meanwhile, the room was being lit up by the random bursts of fire, lasers and lighting flying all over the place. It seemed as if both sides kept on dodging each other's attacks, and so nobody was able to land an serious blow.

That is, until Nixon managed to teleport next to Phlean's side and started absorbing all of the Sailor Warriors' attacks and started turning them back on the group.

The Sailor Group was unable to handle having their own attacks returned right back at them, and were sent flying across the room.

“I see that you can't even take them down on your own... It's amazing that Lionel ever saw anything redeemable in you.“ Nixon couldn't help but snipe at Phlean, still annoyed about the fact that Phlean kept on trying to take over all of his operations and taking the credit for it.

“Just shut up already and help me kill all of them! We need to take that Moon staff away from the prince... it's got the Sliver Crystal that Lionel wants.” Phlean snarled.

Nixon simply nodded, and with that they started working together in unison. Phlean fired off offensive attacks, while Nixon simply absorbed the warriors' attacks soon as they fired their attacks back at Phlean.

At this point the Sailor Group was starting to feel worn down after having their asses handed to them.

“It's no use... Those guys are pretty much invincible when they decide to work together.” Mercury couldn't help but gripe, “And if they keep this assault up we'll never be able to get out of this place!”

In a flash of light, Prince Kal-El's uniform reverted back to the Sailor Krypton uniform. Sailor Krypton then looked at the others. “Guys, I have an idea. Did you know that you could all combine your powers together and channel it into something? I think if we all combine our powers together, we can beat them.”

Jupiter nodded. “Anything to get out of this place. I'm right behind you!”

The others nodded as well at Jupiter's comment, and with that they started lining up alongside Sailor Krypton. Jupiter and Mars were flanking Krypton on both sides, and so instead of holding hands with Krypton they put their hand on his shoulder. Mercury was by Jupiter, while Venus was by Mars. They then joined hands.

Lex was right behind Krypton, watching the whole thing with rapt interest.

Sailor Krypton had both hands on his staff, which he raised high into the air. “Healing Escalation!”  
“Mars Power!”  
“Mercury power!”  
“Jupiter power!”  
“Venus power!”

All the Sailor Warriors started glowing brightly in their respective colors, and they cried out in unison “Power to Sailor Krypton!”

With that, a bright blast of white light engulfed the entire area like some nuclear bomb had gone off quickly.

It certainly felt like a nuclear bomb to both Nixon and Phlean, as they were practically blown away in the “blast”. Nixon screamed from the shock of feeling his invincible dark barriers crumble away as seeing his darkness was no match against Sailor Krypton's bright light.

Phlean knew when he was beaten, and so he teleported out before the light could damage him any further.

Nixon didn't really have that forethought, and so with that he was completely overcome with the light, and felt it burn up all the darkness in his body.

Unknown to everyone, the light not only had covered the room they were in, but had came to engulf the whole dark tower itself. Inexplicably, the light had managed to transform the dark ugly tower into a beautiful white crystalline skyscraper tower that looked like it would had been right at home on planet Krypton.

Everything was quiet and peaceful once the battle was over.

“Wow... if this is what happens when we combine our powers together... we should do it more often.” Sailor Mars said, as she looked around in awe.

“I agree... since it seems to have destroyed the pocket dimension thing we were trapped in... we can leave from this place now!” Sailor Mercury couldn't help but look relived as she scanned the area.

Everyone else cheered at this bit of good news, and Lex looked around.

“Where is Nixon and the others? They wouldn't just give up like this.” Lex wondered aloud.

“Dunno, but I think we should beat it out of here before they appear again.” Venus answered.

Everyone was in agreement with that idea, and they rushed for the nearest elevator that would take them down to ground level quickly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Damn it! How could this happen...?!” Lionel Luthor was practically frothing at the mouth with anger, as he stomped around his throne room.

Zod had been right all along... Sailor Krypton was indeed the reincarnated Prince of Krypton. Worse, he now had the Sliver crystal and could very easily stop Lionel and Zod in their track.

There was no way about it... Sailor Krypton had to be killed off at all costs!

He quickly opened an channel to Phlean, since he was the only one who apparently survived the Sailor Warriors' healing attack.

“Do what you must, but kill Sailor Krypton at all costs!” Lionel screamed, as he spun around to face his floating orbs, of which now showed Phlean's face on all three orbs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phlean smirked as he hovered in the elevator shaft, watching the elevator go down. “No worries, I was already on it.”

With that his body surged with dark energy, and flames started shooting out of his hands and danced around him.

He then threw his hands down in the direction of the elevator, hurling all of the fire down at it.

The fire imploded upon impact when it made contact with the elevator, and it caused all of the elevator cables to snap.

“Aggghhhh!!” Screams of the Sailor warriors could be heard as the elevator quickly plummeted all the way to the ground floor.

Phlean laughed, as he teleported out of there. He didn't feel the need to check to make sure that they all died... he was of the firm belief that nobody could had made it out of that alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Damnit!” Sailor Krypton cursed, as he used his super-strength to punch though the steel walls. He then used his hands to try to grab on to the walls of the elevator shaft, in an attempt to slow it down.

However, he couldn't slow it down only on one side. He then looked at the other end of the Elevator, and cursed again. “We need somebody to break though and try to slow it down from the other end too...” He said aloud.

Sailor Venus then caught on to what he was trying to do, and quickly copied Sailor Krypton's actions on the other end of the elevator since she was the other person who also had super-strength.

Between the two of them, the speed of the plummeting elevator started to slow down to a slow grid.

Finally, they were able to reach the ground safely.

Sailor Krypton winched a little as he finally let go and pulled back to examine his hand. It actually ached a lot, and the glove was all ripped up. There was actually crystalline cement under his fingernails.

“Ow... I hope I never have to do that again.” Sailor Venus complained slightly, as she stretched her sore fingers.

The pair then pulled apart the elevator doors, allowing for the rest of the Sailor Warriors to stumble outside.

“oh man... I never want to have that experience again.” Sailor Mars gasped as she rushed outside. “I almost spoiled myself....”

“I hate to say it... but I did tell you we should had been looking for Phlean and Nixon... they're obviously the cause of the falling elevator.” Lex couldn't help but have a 'I told you so' tone to his voice as he commented.

Sailor Mercury glared at him. “There are times where you're kind of annoying... you know that, right?”

“I'm just glad everyone got out of this place alive. It would had been too terrible otherwise.” Jupiter said, as she walked towards the exit.

Sailor Krypton and Venus was the last to escape the elevator, after the dogs had gotten out too.

The dogs turned to face the group.

Kandora then replied, “There's a place we need to go to, now that the entire group is together... We need to go to the secret crystal base. Once there, we will explain everything.”

Krypto nodded. “She's right... Before we can finally confront Lionel and all his minions for what they've done, we need to make you all a little bit more stronger than you are currently.”

“Alright....” Sailor Mars couldn't help but sound weary at this. She was tired of being a woman in those painful high heels, and most importantly she was tired of fighting. All she wanted to do was revert back to her original male gender, go home and relax in front of the TV.

She looked over at Sailor Krypton. He appeared to be just as tired of this whole thing like she was.

“Is there going to be some food at this secret base of yours? Because I seriously need something about right now...” Sailor Krypton wondered.

Kandora blinked at this. “Well, we do have the resources to create food and drink...”

Sailor Krypton brightened up at this. “Well then... what are we waiting for? Let's go!”

with that, everyone ran outside and away from the newly-formed Crystal Tower.


	13. Lionel goes on the warpath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Youma I used for this chapter were the one used by Zoisite when he (or she, if you followed the dub) were spying on Nephrite. :)  
>  This chapter is not based on any Sailor Moon eps in particular, this was just a prep chapter to set up for the final battle between Lionel/Zod and the Sailor Warriors. Basically, Lionel realizes that he's pressed for time and shakes things up in a very bad way.

The sailor warriors looked around as they followed the dogs though the underground caves, which seemed to be decorated with Native American paintings all over the rocky walls.

“This is amazing... I had no idea that Smallville had something like this... and those paintings, they look so old!” Chloe/Sailor Mercury commented.

“They look Native American in origin....I can't help but wonder if this was what Kayla was looking for last year.” Sailor Krypton thought out loud.

“Huh, who is that?” Sailor Mars and Jupiter asked.

Sailor Krypton blushed beet red. “Aah... just some girl I knew a while ago.”

Mercury giggled at this. “Not just any girl... remember that Native American lady? The one who were totally crushing on Clark for the short time she was here? It happened last year, just like Clark mentioned.”

“Oh! I remember now... She was like Clark's girlfriend for like two weeks before her family had to move on because they couldn't find what they were looking for in Smallville...” Mars recalled. She then chuckled. “Man, Clark and Kayla couldn't stop making out for more than one minute in public...”

“I remember that part all too well... it got old really fast when we were hanging out together in groups.” Lex couldn't help but look annoyed at the memory. It was really difficult to hang out with your best friend when he seemed too busy making out with some girl who had just randomly decided to stay in Smallville for two weeks. Things had been awkward between them for the short time Kayla was in town.

It was true... Kyla Willowbrook was a very beautiful-looking Native American who belonged to the Kawatche tribe, and had been in Smallville briefly for a short time while she was helping her grandfather look for old Kawatche artifacts that would had helped support the idea that some of their old legends were actually true. All of this happened long before the Torch group was told that they had to become Sailor Warriors and save the world.

Clark had met her in a highly unusual way.... he had been out in the forest by his farm brooding over something, when he came across Kayla in wolf form. She had been bleeding badly, because a bunch of farmers had mistaken her for a different wolf that had been killing their cattle and had shot her.

Clark had mistook her for a white husky dog in the dim light, and had managed to calm her down enough to let him carry her back to his farm so that he could save her life. Thankfully, Clark's father was very skilled at stopping animal wounds from bleeding and closing them by sewing it shut. This was due to the fact that he had to do this with other animals to save up on vet bills. And so Kayla's life had been saved.

Needless to say, the Kent family had been more than a little surprised when the “dog” passed out and morphed into a very naked woman. It was in the morning that she had introduced herself to the family as Kayla... and she revealed that she knew about some of Clark's abilities due to the fact that Clark had super-sped over to his farm while he was carrying Kayla.

Kayla had been both charmed and fascinated by the fact that her savior seemed to have powers... far as she knew her tribe had been the only one with supernatural abilities. It also didn't hurt that Clark was good looking, very respectful of both her and her genetic history.

Of course, the rest of the Torch crew didn't really know about any of that.... all they knew was that she had been in Smallville on a mission to try to recover her tribe's missing artifacts and had an whirlwind romance with Clark. She then left for good once she determined that there was no Kawatiche artifacts to be found at all in Smallville. Last anybody ever heard of her, was that she was now a student in Granville high school with a new steady boyfriend of her own. She had wanted to enroll into Smallville high school at first to be with Clark, but her family had denied her request. Clark couldn't help but get the feeling that Kayla's grandfather hadn't been exactly approving of their relationship, and had made her live in a different town instead.  
Clark's friends had teased him for days about his short-lived romance with the dark beauty, saying things like how Clark's clumsiness must had finally scared her off or something like that.

Mars smirked when she saw Krypton's face redden at Kayla's name. “It was too bad though... she was a total babe!” She couldn't help but tease.

Krypton couldn't help but smile in a goofy way. “She was a really excellent kisser.... she had this way where she could make you forget where you were, and what you were supposed to do...until the kiss was over.”

Mercury rolled her eyes, while Jupiter just started at Krypton as if she was seeing him in a whole new light.

Jupiter shook her head. “I can't even picture Clark being the type that would enjoy making out with a girl in public.... I always thought that he would get too embarrassed easily. Also, how did I not hear about this before? I would had thought that word of Clark's brief fling would had gotten around!”

Krypton scoffed at this. “Why would had it gotten around? I'm just some geek that nobody notices... hardly gossip-worthy at all. The only way people would had gossiped about me and her was if I got her knocked up or something.... but that's impossible, since we didn't even get past second base.”

Jupiter looked over at Mercury as to say “Is he kidding me?”

Mercury just shrugged, as to say “That's Clark for you... he has no clue what people really see when they look at him.”

Clark was really amazingly good-looking, even though Clark seemed utterly oblivious of how attractive he really was. Chloe and Lana had lost count of how many times there was talk of Clark in the girls' locker room whenever they ranked guys in terms of which ones were the hottest to the least attractive ones. Clark always tended to wind up in the top three. And thanks to the public antics of the Torch crew, there were some rumors going around about the crew, especially Clark.

Pete/Sailor Mars just looked disappointed in Clark. “Dude, a chick that hot and you only got to second base? I'm so sorry.”

Clark blushed slightly, while Mercury just punched Mars' arm.

“Ow! What was that for?” Mars complained, while Mercury just rolled her eyes.

“That's for being such a pig.” Mercury answered.

The dogs cut the conversation short as they finally stopped in front of an cave wall that had a strange octagonal dent in it. “We're here! Prepare yourselves.”

the dogs then spoke in the alien Kryptonian language, which Clark/Sailor Krypton actually understood. It was some kind of pass-code, which caused the cave wall to open up in a highly dramatic fashion with light shining though the opening crack.

“How utterly dramatic!” Sailor Venus couldn't help but squeal delightedly, “This is so going into the movie!”

“What movie?” Sailor Jupiter couldn't help but look confused.

The young girl just giggled. “The one they're gonna make about us once we're done saving Earth from alien invaders, of course! They have to, because we're superheroes!”

“Um, okay...?” Jupiter blinked confusedly at the logic of 9-year-old girls.

The cave wall enlarged just enough to let the group inside. As soon as everyone moved inside, the walls closed up again.

In an instant everyone was transported to a place that had crystals that jutted out of the ground everywhere.

“Well, I can see why you call it the secret crystal base.” Mercury commented as she looked around.

“Welcome, Kal-El, my son. I also extend my welcome to his allies.” a male voice boomed out of nowhere.

Everyone looked around in confusion as they looked for the source of the voice.... and they startled as an hologram popped up in front of them.

The hologram depicted an middle-aged man who had black hair, with graying sides around his temple and ear area. But that wasn't what caught the group's attention... it was the fact that he looked remarkably a lot like a older Clark, just with dark blue eyes instead of Clark's typical hazel-green ones.

“Who are you??” Sailor Krypton couldn't help but look slightly freaked out that this “person” looked so much like him.

The hologram then introduced himself. “I am Jor-El. I was your father in a past life... I see that you have not yet recovered all of your memories even though you clearly reawakened as the Prince of Krypton.”

The crystals around the group started glowing.

“What's going on?” Mercury wondered as she looked around.

“I am about to upload some information into your brain. This is much more effective than relaying information to you via the spoken word.” Jor-El replied.

“Hey, hold on... I'm not sure I'm comfortable with having some alien hologram mess around with my he--” Mars started to object, but he was cut off as everyone was engulfed in a warm, bright light.

As the light faded, all of the sailor warriors were lying on the floor unconscious.

“Shouldn't have you gotten them comfortable enough before doing that so suddenly?” Krypto wondered, “How are they going to trust you from now on if they know that you can get into their heads any time you like?”

“Their comfort is irrelevant.” Jor-El said coldly, “All that matters is testing them to see whenever they are ready to confront Zod, as well as testing their loyalty for my son. I shall not tolerate human cowards abandoning my son at the last moment should he need them.”

“What happens if they don't pass your test?” Kandora couldn't help but question the hologram.

“Then they shall have their minds wiped clean, and their personalities altered to turn them into the perfect bodyguards for my son. They shall think of nothing else but the mission.” The hologram answered.

“But you can't do that! Those children have a life of their own... they've been fighting to protect this earth and the people they love. They were going to return to their normal lives once all of this was over. How can you just take that away from them?” Krypto protested.

“Irrelevant. Even after Zod is defeated, Kal-El still has his own personal mission.... to recreate the Kryptonian Empire on Earth. He shall be a god amongst those men, and rule them all. Those children shall do nicely as his loyal bodyguards while he completes that mission.” Jor-El replied, and he then dismissed the dogs.

Kandora stared at the prone form of Sailor Venus lying on the floor. She whimpered as she thought to herself: “Oh, Linda. I'm so sorry.... I had no idea what trouble I was getting you into.”

She often struggled with the notion that Sailor Venus's role were to basically distract Kal-el's enemies and become the new target for said enemies. But deep down she had been optimistic that such a thing wouldn't come true, and that Linda could just go back home to her family once all of this was over.

Sure, her family would be worried sick over where she had been those past few weeks, but eventually everything would go back to normal... and Linda would be able to grow up into a happy, healthy teenage girl like she had been in the past as Kara Zor-el.

But if Jor-El found that a 9-year-old girl wasn't responsible enough to handle this mission.... what would he do to her? She might not even be the same Linda Danvers that her parents knew and loved. Without having meant to, Kandora was now responsible for the Danvers family losing their beloved daughter.

“Dammit!” Krypto growled, snapping Kandora out of her guilt-ridden train of thought. “This Jor-El isn't the same one we used to know... when Jor-El was alive, he would had never acted like this!”

“Yes... I'm afraid I have to agree with you. I should had listened to you when you first noticed that there was something strange about that hologram.” Kandora agreed. “But what can we do now? We have no choice but to go along with this....”

“Yeah. I know those kids, and they all have really amazing and strong personalities.... I hope that's enough to impress this version of Jor-el.” Krypto said in an hopeful tone. “Seems we'll have to wait for the outcome.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Jor-El finally spoke up.

“It is done... I have ascertained that every one of them is loyal to Kal-El, and shall not run away should he have serious need of them. I must say, some of them greatly surprised me... especially Lex Lu-Thor. Considering his family's involvement with Krypton's past tragedy, I had expected him to become a potential future enemy and were prepared to fully wipe his mind and overwrite his personality.”

He paused for a second before continuing. “However, he passed the test as did the others. I now have uploaded important information into their minds, and they now know how to upgrade the power that was given them. However, I believe they shall need some training.... which I leave up to you, Krypto and Kandora.”

Before the dogs could even respond to that, the teenagers lying on the floor stirred.

Linda was the first to wake up though, as she sat up with a surprised look on her face. She blurted out, “My parents used to be scientists in an past life? And they actually lived on the planet Venus.... how weird!”

Kandora rushed over to her young charge. “Linda! Are you alright? Do you feel different than usual..?”

Linda just shrugged. “I feel fine... just went though a very weird experience is all. It was like there was a 3d movie playing in my head... showing me what my past life was like. But at the same time I was feeling what my past self was feeling and thinking about. And there was also this voice asking me questions regarding my loyalty to the Kryptonian Kingdom. It was all so confusing!”

Kandora pressed her head against Lina's shoulder, feeling some relief at this. “I'm just glad you're okay.... I was worried when that information beam made you collapse.”

Linda smiled, as she petted her dog. “At least now I know why you kept on calling me Kara...”

Lex Luthor woke up, and gasped when he saw Clark Kent's unconscious form lying by him. He quickly sat up and started shaking Clark's body in desperation. “Clark! Wake up, please!”

Clark grumbled slightly, as he came to. Lex let out a breath of relief, and started pulling Clark into his arms. “Oh thank god.... It was just a horrible dream...”

Linda blinked at this. “Jeez, what did Jor-El show you?”

Lex couldn't help but mentally replay the horrible picture of Kal-El being killed by Lionel, and having Kal-El die in his arms. Lex didn't really have many fears at all.. save for the fear that his mother might die one day. And now, he had this new added fear of seeing Clark Kent die the same way Kal-El did in the past. He would do anything to prevent that, at all costs.

“I... I don't want to talk about it right now.” Lex murmured solemnly, as he looked down at Clark, who were now waking up. 

“Ugh, my head... is this what a headache feels like?” Clark groaned, as he got up. He blinked, as he stared at Lex with a strange expression on his face. 

Lex wondered what was up with that expression. “What?”

Clark replied, “Did you know you used to have red hair in the Silver Millennium? I have to say, I'm so used to seeing you without hair, that seeing you with hair were downright bizarre!”

Lex laughed, his mood lightening at this. “I know! I saw that part myself too. I'm kind of glad that I was born without hair at all in this life... imagine all the teasing I would had endured if I had bright red hair that was more garish than a clown's wig? I would had hated it. But it's very strange that Lionel was actually responsible for the loss of my hair in his past life.”

“You pull off the bald look really well... you always make it look so sophisticated and attractive.” Clark replied. Lex just ducked his head, slightly embarrassed and skeptical by this compliment... even if he was happy to hear that.

Lex then looked up again, grinning. “But you know what I find even more amazing? The fact that we were best friends in that other life. It confirms what I've always known about us... That we were meant to have a legendary friendship. The kind that they always write about in books...”

Clark smiled. “Yeah, I remember what you used to tell me when we were kids... stuff of legends, right?” His face then grew somber, as he recalled seeing Lex die in that past life, just because he had tried to prevent his father from destroying the Kryptonian Kingdom.

Clark would do anything to stop Lex from dying again..... even if it meant that he had to sacrifice his own life to save Lex and everyone. Lex was far too precious a friend for him to let that kind of thing happen again.

Chloe and Pete woke up at the same time, and they got up rubbing their heads.

“What the hell was that? It was like I was really there.... I was on Mars, surrounded by green and white martians! I was being told what the last Sailor Mars was like... apparently she was a princess of Mars. The weirdest thing was that I could feel and see everything though her eyes... like I was really her!” Pete exclaimed loudly as he described his experience to others.

Chloe nodded. “I went though something similar. Apparently, the last Sailor Mercury was a girl named Artemis...? and she lived on the planet Mercury... the technology there was amazing!”

Lana Lang was the last to wake up, but she had woken up in time to catch what Chloe was saying.

“I just went though Amazonian training myself, as somebody named Donna Troy...” Lana Lang commented, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I have to say, the ladies of Jupiter lived a pretty hardcore life... their home planet was like one giant rainforest jungle before it turned into an gas planet.”

She then shivered. “It was so horrible seeing that planet turn into an gas planet... seeing those poor people run from the storms even though there was no safe place for them at all on that planet.”

Lana couldn't help but feel a little bit traumatized now, having seen thousands of people die vividly in a blink of a eye. Was this what would happen to Earth, if they didn't act soon?

No, She would ensure that would never happen at all!

Pete and Chloe nodded at this solemnly. They had gone though a similar experience with their respective planets too. As traumatic as that experience was, all it did was help them strengthen their determination to stop Zod at all costs.

They were all startled out of their thoughts as Jor-El spoke again. “You all now have the ability to use stronger attacks now, now that you have the knowledge left by your past predecessors.”

“Speaking of power-ups... guess what I'm able to do now!” Lex bounced slightly as he told the others.

Once he was sure he had everyone's attention... he then closed his eyes, and held out his right hand.

A red rose materialized out of nowhere, and bloomed as he grabbed it. In a flash of light, Lex was now dressed in an tuxedo outfit, complete with a red-lined black cape. He was also wearing a white mask that had a pattern of tiny roses and green vines on it.

“I learned how to do this from my old past self! Apparently I was able to do this all along and never knew it... cool, huh??” Lex gleefully said, happy now that he had a cool transforming sequence just like everyone else. Finally, he could be a superhero too!

Clark grinned. “That's cool, Lex.”

Pete on the other hand, wasn't amused. “Oh great... now Lex gets an even better outfit than I do? Why can't I kick ass in an tuxedo too?? That's so not fair at all.”

Lex just smirked at Pete's reaction. He couldn't help but want to get an rise out of Pete, so he said, “Are you sure you're macho enough to pull off the tuxedo hero look? Maybe there's a very good reason why you should just fight as a female heroine...”

Pete twitched angrily at this. “Oh screw you! I'm 100% more masculine than you are... considering the fact that you wanted to be a hero so badly that you actually didn't mind turning into a girl if it came to that! At least I have the excuse that I was tricked into it!”

With that, Lex and Pete started one of their typical verbal fights.

Clark just sighed at this.... he wished that his two friends would just get along like normal people out there instead of doing those constant verbal sparring matches.

Chloe just snorted at this and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Lana just sighed. “Man, I'm so tired... my feet are killing me too. I think I need to go home tonight and rest up before we do anything about Lionel.”

The others nodded at this.

Clark replied, “I agree. I need to go home and see my parents, and tell them everything about what's going on. Plus, I have a craving for my mom's apple pie all of a sudden.”

Chloe simply nodded. It had been a very long night for all of them.

First they had to look into that phony Sailor Krypton who had been randomly saving people all over Smallville, which had led them right into an trap. Then they had to fight their way out of an extra-dimensional maze that had been created by the enemy, which for some reason had become this gigantic crystal tower once the real Sailor Krypton had purified it (with help from the other Sailor Warriors). During this process they all discovered that Clark was the Kryptonian Prince that they were looking for all along the entire time. Once they escaped the Crystal Tower, they came here to this underground cave base that somehow housed an giant crystal fortress with an hologram of some ancient king. The said hologram then gave them attack upgrades.

The whole thing seemed kind of convoluted if you really thought about it. And just think, all of that happened in an entire night.

It was no wonder why everyone needed time to process this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With everyone silently agreeing that they needed to rest up, they all left the cave as their normal selves... only to discover that it was now 2:00 am.

“Oohh man.... I can't believe we were out here for that long. No wonder why I felt like I was completely worn out.” Pete commented as he looked at his cellphone, which was now full of frantic text messages from his mother and family members.

Chloe sighed when she saw that she had received similar texts from her father Gabe. “Man, I'm going to be in so much trouble...”

Lana paled slightly, as she thought about the sort of reaction she was going to get from her Aunt Nell. “I suppose I can't go with you, Chloe? I don't really want to go back to my house.” She then brightened as an idea came to her. “Hey, I could tell her that I was sleeping over at your house and forgot to tell her? And in return I could tell your dad that you were just helping me out with homework at my house? I could play up the dumb cheerleader stereotype.”

Chloe was too tired to notice that it was kind of strange that Lana would be so scared to face her aunt, and simply nodded. “Sure. I could use all the backup I get when facing the music.”

Pete then turned to face the other guys and flashed his best 'scolded puppy dog' expression. “Lana actually has a very good idea there. Any chances you two could help me out with that same excuse?”

Clark sighed. “I don't think so. You know how honest my parents are... they would rat us out in a minute if they thought we hadn't been upfront with them about our nightly activities. You would just get into even more trouble if I tried covering for you and my parents found out about it.”

Pete deflated at this, but brightened up as Lex told him: “Sure, I'll cover for you. I'll say you were hanging out at my mansion with Clark and I... we were watching movies before you had to head home, only we wound up falling asleep. My father wouldn't care about ratting us out, and I can bribe the staff to cover for us.”

Pete beamed. “Thanks, Lex! You can be a real lifesaver sometimes.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hamilton looked around nervously as he walked into the underground throne room. It was then his attention was caught once he noticed some new changes.

For one thing, the large rotating plane of “glass” that hovered over Lionel Luthor's throne now showed a very clear image of Zod. Huh, that wasn't what he had imagined Zod to look like at all... he had expected some sort of alien cosmic horror, not a human-looking man who styled his beard like he was Ming the Merciless from the old Flash Gordon TV series. However, This guy had his black hair slicked back instead of going bald like that old TV villain. 

His attention on the rotating plane of “glass” were interrupted when Lionel Luthor spoke. “Hamilton, have you made much progress in collecting energy though your Nicodemus flowers?”

Hamilton grimaced slightly because he had forgotten about that on-going flower project he was supposed to do. To be perfectly honest, he couldn't care less about energy gathering right now. After all, he was in the process of trying to reverse-engineer that Mercurian power circuit thing.... he was playing with ancient alien tech and that was the sort of thing that excited him more than anything right now.

However, he was no fool... he had actually assigned a few of the Zoners working for him to that task while he focused on his new project.

So he simply nodded and telepathically summoned his Zoner Assistants and introduced them to Lionel soon as they materialized out of thin air.

“My lord, those three are my assistants who I've chosen to help with the Nicodemus flower project. Do allow me to introduce them to you in order... Housenka, Suzuran, and..... Grape?” He trailed off, as he was unable to pronounce the last name correctly and it ended up sounding like the word Grape.

The one he accidentally called Grape wasn't so amused by his mispronunciation, and she glared at him.

Lionel Luthor looked over the Zoners that the dark-skinned meteorologist had managed to summon to this plane of existence. He then couldn't help but mentally notice that every one of those aliens seemed to be plant-based. Granted, they looked like tall elves with very exaggerated asian features, but their attire seemed to have a plant motif, and actually seemed to merge with their natural bodies.

Lionel couldn't help but wonder if Steven Hamilton were intentionally going for a plant theme with his energy collecting projects or if the appearance of those aliens were just merely a coincidence. It was kind of strange that somebody so obsessed with the meteor rocks would end up playing around with plants instead of the rocks.

Hamilton then stepped towards his assistants. He then told them, “Why don't you show Lionel and Zod how hard you've been working? You do deserve some recognition for your work, after all.”

His assistants brightened up considerably at this. Finally, a chance to show how powerful they truly were.... they might even get promoted by Zod and no longer have to work for some pathetic human like Steve Hamilton.

The Zoners took the bait like Hamilton hoped they would, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath of relief as he stepped back to let his Zoners show off the amount of energy they were able to collect.

Now maybe he could get back to studying that piece of alien tech and just let them handle everything else. He smiled slightly at that thought... and couldn't help but fantasize a little bit about all the fame he deserved at last, once he unlocked the secrets of both the alien artifacts and Zod's power.

The world would finally see one day that he wasn't just some crackpot meteorologist who were obsessed with meteor rocks... but rather a legitimate, powerful scientist!

His head snapped up when Lionel called his name.

“Yes?” Steve sweated slightly, wondering if he had missed out on anything while he was lost in his daydream.

Lionel then spoke, “You and your assistants have done very well. However, I'm afraid I shall have to ask you to step it up a notch. You see, the Sailor Warriors have discovered who I really am..... and chances are that they're planning to come here and confront me. We cannot allow this to happen before I release Zod from his prison.”

Hamilton got a bad feeling. “Uh, so you're telling me to go fight the Sailor Warriors?”

Lionel smirked. “No, I just want you to spread those flowers of yours all around town. I no longer care about keeping a low profile, or whenever humans will die from the flowers or not. The town of Smallville will act as an diversion while we build up enough energy to release Zod. The town shall become the sacrifice we need in order to realize our dreams at last!”

Steve Hamilton stared at Lionel like he was crazy. If they went though with that plan then there was a chance that the whole world would learn about everything they did. They could all go to jail, or worse!

It was one of the reasons why he mainly stuck with sapping energy from cows... he couldn't help but worry about the possibility that they could go to jail for harming other human beings if they were ever found out. He knew it was a irrational fear at best... after all, they all had supernatural powers! What could the police do against the mighty forces of Lionel Luthor's secret kingdom? But now with the Sailor Warriors on the scene the police could have some supernatural backup from them.

He couldn't help but feel that maybe Lionel Luthor was panicking because the Sailor Warriors found out who he really was, and were in the process of making a very stupid mistake.

But before Hamilton could speak, Phlean choose this moment to walk into the throne room.

Lionel narrowed his eyes at this interruption, and he actually seemed pissed off.

Lionel then smirked even though his eyes were still narrow with anger. He then muttered under his breath. “Oh yes, that reminds me... I still need to address the issue of Sam Phlean's failure to follow up on my orders.”

Sam Phlean however, were clueless about what Lionel were thinking... and simply strode up next to Steve Hamilton.

He then bowed. “The task is done, my lord. The sailor warriors are dead.”

Lionel couldn't help but look angry. “Really? My recordings tell me otherwise.”  
He then snapped his fingers... and magical screens popped up all around Phlean which all showed the Sailor Warriors slowing down the elevator by punching though the walls of the elevator and grabbing on to the shaft walls. It then showed the Sailors getting out of the elevator safely and running for the exit.

Sam Phlean's eyes widened at this. “That's impossible... I blew up the elevator... they couldn't had gotten out!”

Lionel growled slightly. “As I recall, I also told you to get the silver crystal from Sailor Krypton after you killed him. You also seem to have failed at that.”

Phlean paled slightly at this. He had been so caught up in his “victory” over killing the Sailor Warriors that he forgot about the other part of his order. But he also figured that they would just dig out the rubble for it later, so... But unfortunately it seemed that the Sailor Warriors were more resilient than he expected.

Lionel then sat back in his throne, with a look of deadly calm on his face. “I'm starting to think that perhaps Nixon were right about you. Maybe you’re just an incompetent man who uses others to make himself look good.”

Sam Phlean tried to think of something to say... something that might make him look good. “It's not my fault that the Sailor Warriors got away. I was just following your orders to kill them... you didn't tell me that I had to check to make sure they died.”

Lionel just humphed at this. “Did you know that the only reason why I kept you around, were because you were good at covering things up and altering the minds of humans though mind control? You were so good at ensuring that our actives remained undetected. But, I think we no longer need your services...”  
With that, he flicked his fingers at Phlean and sent a strong physic wave that sent the corrupt cop flying against the hard floor. Lionel then made an clawed grabbing motion in the air, and Phlean started shaking violently as he struggled against the energy drain.

“No, please... anything but that! You'll kill me if you take too much from me...” Phlean pleaded, as his hair started to whiten. His body was forming wrinkles all over, like he was turning into a shriveled prune.

Lionel smirked at this, and only sped up his energy drain. Within seconds, Phlean was now just a lifeless, withered husk on the ground.

Lionel then stood up, holding a large energy ball. He floated it up to the Phantom Zone window, and let the rotating plane absorb it. Everyone else in the room could see the effects immediately... the edges of the plan were fading away, and Zod were pushing though almost like he was trying to walk though plastic wrap. At least, this was how the effect looked like.

Zod seemed to be laughing, and shouted in Kryptonian that he could feel the barriers between the Phantom zone and this world weakening.

But no matter what, he couldn't seem to break though. He shouted in the same alien language that he needed more energy!

Hamilton’s assistants and Lionel were the only one to understand him, and they simply nodded while Steve Hamilton just stood there watching the whole thing with a transfixed expression on his face.

Lionel whirled around to face the other people in the room and started shouting. “You heard him! Time to spread those flowers everywhere, and sacrifice this town in the name of Zod!”

The elf-like aliens in plant garb looked extremely excited at the thought that they were going to have a major role in freeing their lord and master Zod. They were actually looking at each other and squealing like young fan-girls.

Steve Hamilton on the other hand, weren't as excited... instead he just simply nodded. “Right away, your lord.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reactions from everyone's parents were to be expected... There had been a lot of yelling, and snide comments about how group could had called their parents to let them know that their kids were okay.

Pete had wound up getting grounded despite the fact that Lex had personally covered for him in person. Clark got grounded too as well, and couldn't leave the farm unless it was to go to school. After school he was expected to head back home right away.

Chloe and Lana on the other hand, were the ones that got off the lightest in terms of their punishment. Lana couldn't help but get the feeling that Chloe's dad was relived that Chloe had been doing something normal with a friend as opposed to chasing after dangerous meteor mutants like usual. 

Nell hadn't been as “understanding” when Lana called her from the Sullivan's house. She seemed to think that maybe Chloe was a bad influence on Lana....considering the fact that Lana had been breaking her curfew ever since she started hanging out with Chloe.  
“We shall have a little talk about the kind of friends you've been making lately once you come back home, young lady.” Nell said.

Lana couldn't help but cringe a little bit at this as she hung up. Chloe didn't hear the conversation between the two, but knew it couldn't be good from Lana's dismayed expression. Chloe then asked, “That bad, huh?”

Lana chuckled weakly and just simply nodded.

The entire Torch crew all went to their own bedrooms once their parents were done scolding them. Most didn't even bother with taking off their clothes, they were too tired for that. So they simply laid out on their bed and promptly fell asleep, glad to get some shut-eye after their long ordeal. Little did they know that they would have to go though a very long ordeal again once they woke up.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep. Fans of Smallville will know of the infamous Nicodemus flower episode, and so they know that our beloved Sailor Warriors are in for some real insanity next chapter!


	14. the (not so) calm before the storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically this is just a chapter to build up to the big final fight between Lionel, Zod and the Sailor Warriors. I wanted to lie everyone's positions out in what I hope was a logical pattern. This ep was also somewhat of a shout-out to the Nicodemus flower ep, and the Sailor Moon episode where an youma's clocks made everyone impatient and irrational.

Clark realized that something was off when he discovered that he had overslept.

“Ahh, look at the time!” He yelped as he got out of bed.  
It was now 12pm! Normally he got up at 5am to do farm work, eat and nap before heading for school. But this was beyond late, even for him... he was going to get detention at school, that was for sure.

He rushed downstairs, wondering to himself why his parents hadn't woken him up. Usually they did that if his alarm failed to wake him up.

Speaking of his parents, they were busy making out in the kitchen....?

“Uh, why didn't you guys wake me up?” Clark halted at the slightly gross sight of his parents making out. He frowned when they didn't seem to notice him... apparently they were too engrossed with each other to notice him right now.

“MOM, DAD, I'm right here!” He couldn't help but yell in frustration.

That finally got their attention. They giggled as if they were young teenagers who had gotten caught in the act of making out by one of their peers. They pulled away from each other and they looked at Clark.

“What's the matter, son?” Jonathan smirked, while Martha giggled again.

“Why didn't you guys wake me up? And what the heck are wrong with you guys right now... you're acting so weird!” Clark demanded to know.

“Why should I wake you up? I don't care about that at all!” Martha couldn't help but roll her eyes at this in a highly dismissive manner, as she scooted closer to her husband.

Jonathan laughed at this. “How cute, Martha.... our son is grossed out at the thought of his parents being intimate. Such a little kid! Clark here should be old enough to know by now this is how he got made in the first place.”

“Mom, dad! That's not even what I was even asking about in the first place!” Clark couldn't help but exclaim in disgust.

With that, both parents laughed, and promptly got back to groping each other like a pair of lovestruck teenagers as if their son wasn't even there.

Clark sighed. There was definitely something strange going on with his parents. Since he was already this late for school, he might as well as call the school to tell them that he was sick or something. Then he could stay here to keep an eye on his parents.

After all, this seemed as if it was the start of yet another weird Smallville incident. Therefore, he had to be here to protect his parents in case something happened to them.

He headed over to the phone, and started dialing. He sighed, thinking to himself that his parents better not do anything beyond making out like teenagers otherwise he was going to be traumatized for life.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
– Earlier today, roughly around 7am--

Chloe and Pete had been the only ones out of the Torch crew to go to school today, and what they saw on their way to school were troubling.

Mr. Johnson the bus driver were normally such a careful driver to the point that he was usually a little slow when it came to driving. However, he always managed to get them to school on time all the time. But that wasn't the case today.

He drove so fast and so erratically, that the school bus kept on swaying all over the road! When he headed into the busy part of town, he didn't even slow down... and actually caused a few dozen car accidents as he sped by the other cars. It didn't help that a couple of the students kept on egging him on.

The other surprising part was the fact that those students doing the egging on were normally quiet and well-behaved honor students. Today, they were shouting profanities at the bus driver, and telling him to go faster otherwise they might be “late”.

This only seemed to increase Mr. Johnson's fury, as he screamed back that he was going as fast as he could. At one point he turned his head to glare back at the unruly honor students... and so he accidentally rammed his bus into an telephone pole.

Everyone went flying against the floor or against the back of the seats, but amazing enough most people were able to get away without a scratch. All of the students got off the bus, but not before some of the students started heckling the driver about how he was terrible at driving.

Pete literally dropped to his knees once he got out of that bus, and he examined, “That scared me... fuck, what the hell is wrong with everyone??”

Chloe simply shook her head, as she looked around the town. “I don't know... but whatever this is, it seems to have spread all around Smallville.”

Sure enough, other drivers on the street were driving just as erratically... and there seemed to be a fair number of citizens getting into loud verbal fights with each other on the sidewalk.

Chloe and Pete looked at each other at the same time, realization dawning on their face. 

Pete then said, “I'll call Clark and the dogs. You get Linda and Lana.”

Chloe nodded. “Got it.”

With that, they ran off in opposite directions.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe didn't see Lana at school at all... which worried her somewhat. Lana Lang were normally on time for school, due to the fact that she always had her aunt Nell drive her to school everyday.  
And her aunt Nell could always be counted to open the Talon and the flower shop on time.... in fact she was the kind that was very strict when it came to being on time for everything.

Chloe hoped that whatever was happening here, didn't affect Lana or her aunt at all.  
Since she couldn't find Lana at school here, she had to stop by Lana's house on the way to the caves.

Linda had chosen to sleep at the cave's secret base for some reason, although now that she thought about it it kind of made sense. After all, she was a 9-year-old girl... it's not like she had any place in Smallville to stay in without drawing attention to herself.

She rushed towards her torch office and started dialing the phone in there fast as she could....hoping that she had remembered Nell potter's phone number correctly.

She let out a breath of relief as Nell answered the phone after a few rings.

“Hello, this is Chloe Sullivan. Do you know where Lana is? She didn't come to school today and I couldn't help but be worried?” She asked.

“Oh, are you the girl she's been hanging out with lately?” Nell's cheery, wondering voice asked over the phone.

Chloe smiled and nodded, even though Nell couldn't see her. “Yeah, that's me alright.”

“I see... well, I'm sorry but Lana had to call in sick from school today. She hasn't been feeling well ever since she came home so late. Must've been something she caught while she was outside all night having fun with you, hmm?” Nell's cheery tone took on an slightly accusing, disapproving tone.

Chloe raised her eyebrows at this. Yikes, it seemed as if Nell Potter thought that maybe Chloe was being a bad influence on her niece? And worse, made Lana ill....which might be an cardinal sin in the Potter-slash-Lang household considering that the two of them seemed to be total workaholics.

“Oh no. I'm so sorry about that. You know, I never meant for her to be at my house for so long... we were just working on school work and watching TV together that we just lost track of time. I hope she's not in too much trouble because of me.” Chloe mustered her best sincere voice as she lied to Nell over the phone. 

“I'm sure.” Nell snickered, her voice revealing that she hadn't really brought into anything Chloe was saying.

Chloe then tried her luck. “You know, Lana left some of her things at my house by accident and I wanted to return them to her... that's the reason why I called, actually. Any chance I could swing by and drop them off for her?”

There was a pause at this from the other end. Finally Nell spoke. “Well, if you're just dropping off her things I don't see anything wrong with that.”

Chloe smiled at this. “Okay, I'll stop by during lunch break. Tell Lana that I hope that she feels better soon.”

with that, Nell just hung up abruptly.

Chloe sighed. She hoped that Nell didn't notice it when she dropped by much earlier than expected...  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nell hung up the phone, and growled to herself.

Damn, She had made up her mind to protect her little darling from outside corrupting forces and this little blonde bitch was stopping by? She couldn't let that nosy reporter have anymore contact with her little girl... considering how much Lana changed after just talking to her.

She then took another whiff of the strange flower she had discovered in her backyard. It was the strangest flower she had ever seen, but it certainly had an alluring charm to it. She thought about picking those flowers and selling them in the flower shop... she was sure that they'd sell like hotcakes.

“Please, just let me out already!” Lana screamed from upstairs.

Nell sighed. She couldn't understand why Lana couldn't just sit quietly in her room like a good girl should... didn't Lana understand that Nell was only trying to protect her reputation?

She walked up the stairs to Lana's room, and stopped in front of the door. She actually had locked and barricaded Lana in earlier while Lana were sleeping...hence why her niece was screaming like this right now.

“I've told you before... I'm not letting you out of your room again until you agree to be a good girl again and never have any more contact with that nasty group at school. I've been hearing all kinds of things... about how you've started to hang out with them. Quite frankly, I'm very concerned.” Nell spoke though the door.

Lana on the other side of the door just looked confused at this, even though Nell couldn't see her. She then wondered, “But why would you care so much about who I hang out with? They're just a bunch of kids who work on the school newspaper.”

Nell chuckled at this. “Oh, my poor girl. Don't you know about all those nasty rumors? How those hoodlums are always stirring up trouble, looking for meteor mutants? I'm just worried that kind of activity could be dangerous for you. What with your tendency to get targeted by those monsters. Look at yourself... you're such a delicate little princess. You'd be helpless without me.”

Lana wanted to retort back with the comment that she could take care of herself just fine now that she had superpowers. Instead, she just said: “Come on, Clark and the others have saved me from those meteor mutants before... remember Tina Greener? Clark were the one to find me when she kidnapped me, and he's part of the Torch newspaper crew that you seem to hate so much.”

Nell scoffed. “Actually, I don't like Clark at all. The way he looks at you... it just gives me the creeps! The way he lurks around you, even though you already have Whitney as a boyfriend... that borders on stalker-like behavior.”

Lana groaned. “You're going to bring up Whitney again? I told you before, he's way too old for me... not to mention he's like a senior while I'm a freshman. In a year he's going to graduate!”

Nell was actually quite controlling to the point that she even decided what kind of boyfriend her niece Lana Lang should have. And for some bizarre reason, Nell decided that the star football player would be a suitable match for Lana, despite the fact that he was a Senior.   
As Lana mentioned before, she was but a simple freshman. So even if she and Whitney had gotten together, they would be only be able to date for a few months before he graduated. Not to mention that as an senior, he was also significantly older than Lana herself. He was currently 17 years old, but would turn 18 years old next year. Lana was only 14 years old, and so she could easily imagine the kind of trouble she and Whitney could had gotten in with the law if they actually dated!

But none of this seemed to matter to Nell... all she saw was the titles “star quarterback player” and “top cheerleader”.... and so based her pairing around this. Sometimes, Nell could be so superficial when it came to things like that.

Lana liked Whitney as a friend, but couldn't really see him as dating material. That kind of thing could only happen in some twisted alternate universe where Lana were the “perfect princess” who saw things Nell's way.

Nell laughed, snapping Lana out of her thoughts. “But that's what's so perfect about him... you don't have to stay committed to him forever, and dating an older star football player is sure to boost your popularity at school.”

“But he's like 17! I'm only 14 years old if you haven't noticed.... he would get in so much trouble once he turned 18 years old.” Lana protested again.

“Oh honey, that's only an problem if you slept with him. Which you clearly haven't.” Nell snickered.

Lana groaned at this again. “You know very well that even one malicious rumor about the two of us can ruin his life, regardless of how untrue it is. but I suppose you don't even care about that, just as long as it boosts my popularity....”

Lana was starting to get frustrated with how long this conversation was taking. She then thought to herself, 'Wait, why the heck am I carrying on this pointless conversation with her? You know Nell can never be reasoned with... let's just transform and escape though the window.'

she whipped out her pen, and silently transformed while Nell was still talking to her on the other side of the barricaded door.

“Honey, enough of this okay? If you just promise to do as I say, I'll let you out of there.” Nell was saying as Lana transformed into Sailor Jupiter.

Lana stomped her feet, still upset for being locked in. “It's no fucking use, you can't be reasoned with! I'm not talking to you anymore!”

Nell gasped at the casual use of a swear word. “Well! If you're going to be like that, then you can just stay in there!”

With that, her footsteps retreated.

Sailor Jupiter smirked bitterly to herself. This way Nell wouldn't wonder why she had gotten quiet all of a sudden. She then rushed over to her windows.

She opened the window, and leaped into the air.

Sailor Jupiter almost ran into Chloe's car on the road a few miles away from her house but the two swerved away from each other as to avoid an accident. Chloe popped her head out of her car's side window and said, “There you are. I've been looking for you. I called Nell, but she said you were sick?”

Jupiter scoffed. “Nell was lying so that I would stay at home. I don't want to talk about it, can we just get out of here?”

Chloe simply nodded. “Sure thing. I have to get Linda at the caves, and meet up with the others. There's something really weird going on in town and we think that Lionel's behind it.”

Lana smiled at that. She was still somewhat tired from yesterday, but her aunt had put her in such a bad mood that she just felt like beating up something. So to her this just seemed like good timing. She ran around to the car's passenger side and got in.

Chloe pressed down on the cars' pedals, and they sped off in the direction of the caves.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It turned out that both Clark and Pete was now at the caves with Linda, along with the dogs.  
Everyone turned around to greet Chloe and Lana as they entered the secret room within the caves.

“So what's going on?” Chloe asked, as everyone looked back up at the large hologram.

“It would seem that Li Lu-Thor has decided to forgo all subtlety and pretense now that that he knows that you all are aware of him and his plans. It would appear that he has decided to drain the entire town of all it's life energy in order to feed his power source.” Jor-El answered, as he displayed a few hologram windows that showed everyone what was going on outside the caves.

One hologram window zoomed in on a few strange-looking flowers that had been scattered throughout the entire town. Jor-El then said, “This alien flower seems to be responsible for the madness going on within the town itself.”

Clark sighed at this. “That man can't even give us a break at all. Alright... so I guess I have to purify the town of all those alien flowers, and then we'll go confront Lionel Luthor in his home.”

The others simply nodded in agreement at this plan. That was when Clark realized something. 

“Hey, where's Lex Luthor? He's not with us at all!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex knew something was wrong soon as he woke up. For one thing, he wasn't even in his bed at all but instead was inside some cage that hovered a few feet off the floor.

“I see that you've woken up at last.” Lionel Luthor sneered at his son from his throne.

Lex sighed. He knew it had been an risk coming back home now that Lionel was aware of his involvement with the Sailor warriors. But, he couldn't just stand the thought of his mother up in her bedroom all alone without anybody to look after her. So like an idiot he had came back home... oh well, what's done is done.

“What are you going to do with me?” Lex Luthor wondered.

Lionel Luthor smirked evilly. “Well, as seeing that I have no more use for you... I guess you can join your mother.”

Lex quickly climbed to his feet in the cage as soon as Lionel said that. “What the hell have you done to mom?!”

Lionel sighed, and shook his head. “For somebody who seemed to have inherited some of my magical talent, you can be so awfully stupid. Wasn't it obvious that I already did something to her a long time ago?”

Lex narrowed his eyes, as he realized what Lionel was driving at. “The comatose state she's in.... it's not natural. But why would you do something like that?? What did you have to gain from it?”

Lionel materialized an glass of wine out of thin air, and swished the wine about in an nonchalant manner. “Well, I had to do it because she found out about not only my abilities, but about my partnership with Zod. She was so upset when she found out... for some reason, she seemed to think that Zod was the devil and that I was working for him. She said there was no way that she was going to raise her sons with a devil-worshiping father.”

He then drank his wine, before adding, “It would had been one thing if she just simply divorced me. It would had been another thing entirely had she started blabbing to everyone in town that I was some sort of magical devil-worshiping man. Now that part could have caused me plenty of problems before Zod was even ready to be freed from his prison.”

Lex collapsed to the floor of the cage, as the pieces started to fit in his mind. Suddenly, everything seemed to make too much sense. Lex had always thought it was odd that his mother Lillian would feel so much grief over the death of the new baby and her returning cancer, that her body simply just shut down and became comatose. Nothing about that never really made sense. But, everyone just simply seemed to accept that explanation without question.  
But now that Lionel explained how Lillian became that way....

“You bastard!” Lex growled at his father, “When I get out of this cage, I'm going to make you sorry that you ever did that to your own wife!”

Lionel chuckled. “Pretty sure of yourself, I see. But you see, my powers are much greater than yours.... and now you'll join your mother in her fate.”

with that, the older Luthor's hands waved over some kind of glowing orb, and Lex could feel his body growing weak. Much to his horror, he could feel himself losing all motor control over his own body! He crashed to the floor with a loud, dull thud. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait.... don't tell me Lex actually went back home to his mansion??” Chloe wondered out loud, once everyone realized that Lex wasn't here with them or were seen anywhere in town.

“But that would be suicidal of him! I mean, his father now knows that he's working with us.” Pete pointed out, looking very troubled.

“Well, maybe Lionel wouldn't do anything to hurt his son and Lex knows it?” Clark said in what was a very hopeful tone of voice.

“Lionel showed everyone how little he cared about his son's life back at the Crystal Tower... so wouldn't he just kill Lex if he ever went back home...?” Chloe answered Clark's question, which hadn't been what Clark wanted to hear at all.

Clark started pacing around the room with a highly distressed expression on his face.

“Why would Lex go back home if this was the case? I mean, he knows how dangerous his father is.” Lana wondered at this latest turn of events.

“His mother. He must had gone back home because of his mother.... remember, He always goes home early at times to take care of his comatose mother because nobody else in the mansion will do it.” Clark realized out loud.

The rest of the group was silent at this, because they had completely forgot that until Clark mentioned it. After all, it wasn't like they even got to see her nowdays.

Linda then said, “Well then... I guess our plan has three steps then? Step one, purify the town first. Step two, check on Lex in the mansion to make sure nothing happened to him. Step three, confront Lionel Luthor. Sounds good?”

Everyone nodded at this. But then Clark sighed. “I really hope Lex's alright. I just have this really terrible feeling all of a sudden.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	15. Battle Royale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As noted in the past chapter, I'm still using Zoitice's monsters because they hadn't been killed off yet. So no D-point monsters here. More info here: http://soul-hunter.com/sailormoon/profiles/villains/motd/grapesuzuranhousenka.php  
>  I also noticed that I mixed the names up for the monsters a little bit.... but hey, it's an AU?

Turned out that trying to purify the town was easier said than done. For one thing, it was a town with a population over 30,000 people.... so that meant A LOT of ground to cover.

So as an result everyone reluctantly agreed to split up into teams. Sailor Venus went with Sailor Mars, while Jupiter paired up with Mercury.

Of course that left Sailor Krypton as the odd man out, but everyone seemed to agree that Clark could take care of himself anyway, what with his invulnerability and super-speed on top of his new magical abilities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--Mars and Venus, in the southern part of Smallville--

“Bloody hell! With a name like Smallville you'd think that this town would be... well, small! What's with the massive amounts of ground we actually have to cover??” Linda aka Venus grumbled under her thick British accent, as she fired off an crescent beam at an large gathering of alien flowers.

“I know. Just bear with it, okay? Believe it or not, but this town was actually small once upon a time. I still remember that, you know... but then this town got destroyed by the meteors, and then Lionel Luthor came waltzing in and helped rebuild the town and helped the local business. As you can see, the local businesses were doing so well that the town couldn't help but expand...” Sailor Mars explained, as she let off yet another fire soul that burnt the alien flowers growing alongside the pavement to a crisp.

“Huh, I see. So what happens to this town when we get rid of Lionel Luthor then?” Venus wondered, as she fired off another crescent beam.

That stopped Mars in her tracks, as she pondered the implications of that. Pete might grumble about getting out of Smallville to visit other places occasionally, but he still loved this place and what it stood for. He couldn't stand the thought that the only reason why Smallville was even remotely successful was because of Lionel Luthor's supernatural powers.

Mars shook her head. “Smallville will do fine without Lionel Luthor. Come on!” 

The two of them ran down the road, lasering and roasting any strange-looking flowers in sight. That was when the two of them came across an couple arguing on the sidewalk.

Mars recognized the couple as Mr. and Mrs. Fordman, the proud owners of both Fordman Jewelry and the Fordman Hardware store.

“Come on, face it! You can't stand the idea that I'm basically the bread-winner in our family! You're such a hypocrite...” Mrs.Fordman was snarling at her husband, and much to Mars's shock Mr. Fordman slapped her in retaliation.

“That's how it is?” The woman scoffed, as she gingerly touched her newly bruising cheek. “I'm getting a divorce!”

“Yikes! We better get rid of the flowers around them and try to calm them down before they do anything they regret!” Sailor Venus cried out, as she promptly fired off a few crescent beams around the screaming couple's feet with perfect accuracy. The flowers instantly became dust, and the Fordmans instantly snapped out of it.

“Huh? What's going on... I was feeling so angry a moment ago... but I can't remember why?” Mrs. Fordman blinked, as she looked around in confusion. “Why did I leave my store unattended?”

“Grace, your face!!” Mr. Fordman cried out when he saw the wound on her cheek. He reached out to gingerly touch it, and gazed at her worriedly. “Are you alright??”

Grace Fordman looked up at her husband, and just smiled. “I'm alright. It only stings a little bit.”  
Mr. Fordman sighed in relief, and pulled his wife in for a hug. “Thank god.”

Linda seemed pleased by this, as she twirled around in her Sailor Venus outfit, and struck a pose at Sailor Mars. “The goddess of love strikes again. No couple will ever fight or separate under my watch!”

Sailor Mars blinked. She had been so shocked by how violent the Fordman couple had been acting that she almost forgot that it was being caused by those alien flowers. Thank god for the 9-year-old girl's quick thinking. Speaking of which...

“That was some impressive accuracy there. You managed to get to all the flowers at their feet without even harming them... how did you do that?” Sailor Mars wondered.

The 9-year-old chuckled a little bit bashfully. It always felt good to be complimented by somebody older, especially if they were truly impressed by what she did. But of course she had to keep up her bad-ass personality... so she just acted smug as she replied, “Well... despite my young age, I've been at this much longer than any of you have been. Remember? So naturally I've had far more experience at that sort of thing.”

Pete frowned internally as he tried to make out Linda's heavy British accent, and could only understand half of what she said. He managed to get the gist... something about more experience.   
Man, he definitely needed practice at understanding foreign accents. Plus, how was it that the English and America both technically spoke the same language but still sound so different from each other??

Sailor Mars chuckled uneasily, and decided to wing it as if she understood Sailor Venus perfectly. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot you were at this longer than we were. You know, before all of this started Chloe had a few new articles printed out about you. She actually wanted to fly all the way to England just so she could interview you for our school newspaper. Can you believe that?”

Sailor Mars chuckled again, missing the look of pleased surprise on Sailor Venus's face.

Internally, Linda was doing her best not to blush too much. She knew that there had been a few news article about her back home... but she had no idea that news of her exploits had reached America. And Chloe had actually wanted to interview her, like she was some kind of famous star??  
Oh gee, that was truly the greatest thing ever to her! Linda had made her mind up to become somebody very famous, preferably a movie star. And this kind of thing just showed that her efforts weren't for nothing.

Without thinking, Sailor Venus happily started strutting along as if she was showing off for some audience on an catwalk. Sailor Mars glanced at her, and couldn't help but laugh.

The two of them didn't notice a certain plant-creature flying at them at high speeds, until it was too late. The plant-creature moved so fast, that it was like a blur and it went straight for Sailor Venus first.

Sailor Venus went flying against a lamppost, which actually bent over from the powerful impact. She was instantly knocked out.

“Sailor V!” Sailor Mars cried out, and then spun around to face the enemy.

The monster turned out to be some kind of plant-like chick, with yellowish-green skin. Upon closer inspection she was also wearing some kind of mask over her nose and mouth that closely matched her skin tone. She had purple bobbed hair with a front red streak running though it, and were wearing something that seemed like plant-themed couture wear. It was a red and green bathing suit over a green bodysuit, with a large pink petal-like boa wrapped around her left shoulder. The whole plant motif was topped off by green leafy gloves and boots.

Pete didn't know if it was just his Mars side speaking, but personally he thought that was the ugliest outfit he had seen so far. The entire color scheme for this monster didn't even make sense. Then again, any male would find that to be ugly too, right? 

“I, Housenka, shall be the one to get rid of every single Sailor Warrior! None of you are even a match for me!” The monster gloated.

“How lovely of you to introduce yourself before you attack me.” Sailor Mars grumbled sarcastically, as she launched a fireball at the monster. But Housenka dodged that by moving at sonic speeds. She blurred, and reappeared behind Sailor Mars.

Sailor Mars tried to spin around quickly in time to attack, but Housenka's speed had an advantage over Mars, and the monster attacked first. Mars found herself flying backwards, and her body impacted with a nearby car. The side of the beige car was now totaled, looking as if some large truck had rammed the side of it. In the center of the massive dent was Mars.

Mars coughed up some blood, and growled. Damn, that monster was stronger and faster than it looked... where was Clark when Pete needed him? Oh yeah, right... the plan to purify the town. Pete's mind was fuzzy from all the pain, as he tried to think of what to do next.   
Sailor Mars' back protested with pain as she tried to try herself free from the car. Pete was pretty sure that their back was seriously damaged... but at least their spine didn't seem to be broken otherwise they wouldn't be able to walk right now. And just when did Pete start to think of Mars and Pete as two different people inhabiting a body?

Mars looked down, and saw blood running down her long, beautiful black legs. She could feel sharp shards of glass from the broken car windows digging into her back, and that was likely where all the blood was coming from. So she was also bleeding profusely. Wonderful.

She let out a gasp of pain, and the monster cackled. “You managed to stand up against my attack pretty well. You didn't even pass out like the other one did. Very impressive. But... you seem pretty beat-up. Are you still confident that you'll be able to beat me? How foolish!!”

With that the monster cackled some more... it couldn't just help but gloat how powerful it was.

“Crescent... B-beam...” a small, gasping voice said, and a laser flew though the air and pierced a large hole in Housenka's right arm.

Housenka howled in pain, as Mars looked towards the broken Lamppost where Venus had been lying. Sailor Venus was now standing up, one hand behind her as if she trying to heal her back injury. She was hobbling towards the two of them like a old lady now.

Sailor Venus then grimaced, trying to act like she wasn't injured at all. She said in an gasping, breathy tone: “T-tactics 101. N-never become o-overconfident and l-lose f-focus o-of s-surroundings. A-always downfall in battle...” she said, stuttering a little bit as it hurt her to even speak.

Sailor Mars grinned, relieved to see that the 9-year-old was still alive. She took the opportunity to attack as well. “Fire soul!!” She screamed as she let out a large blast of fire at the monster while it was still distracted by it's injured arm.

That managed to send the monster flying a little bit, but the monster waved her good arm, and sent an shock-wave outwards that made the fire bounce off her body. Only tiny parts of her body was even remotely singed from the fire.

“Oh come on! I had her. She's made out of plants, she should be engulfed in fire!” Sailor Mars growled.

“Crescent beam!” Sailor Venus tried to aim for a crucial spot on the monster's body, but Housenka was too fast and dodged out of the way. She then echoed Mars' sentiment, as the two of them looked around to find the fast-moving creature.

Turns out that Housenka was now running around them in circles, at super-speed... looking for another opening where it could take them down again.

Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars moved closer, so that they were now back-to-back. This way they could be each other's eyes and not let the monster catch them off guard anymore.

Sailor Venus then whispered, “Our current attacks aren't working well on this one.”  
“No shit Sherlock.” Mars grumbled, before remembering that she was speaking to a 9-year-old girl here. “Um, sorry for cursing.”  
Sailor Venus ignored the cursing, and instead suggested.. “Remember what Jor-el said? That we now had it in ourselves to unlock new attacks or something? Stronger attacks?”  
Mars scoffed in disbelief. “You want to try unlocking them NOW? Jeez, talk about bad timing...”  
Venus asked, “Do you have a better idea? The way I figure it, all we have to do is focus and expend our energy... only takes a few seconds?”

Mars didn't say anything, which Venus took as silent agreement. The both of them closed their eyes, and called upon the true elements of their power. Their bodies started glowing their planet's respective colors.   
When Housenka saw that the young girls had closed their eyes... it saw an opportunity to attack. However, when she lunged at the sailor warriors at high speed she suddenly found a strong force-field deflecting her attack. That was when she finally noticed that the Sailor Warriors' bodies were now glowing with red and orange auras.

“Crap, that can't be good...” Housenka mumbled to herself.

Sure enough, both Sailor Warriors opened their eyes... and anybody could tell that they were now surging with some new-found power that they never knew that they had until now.

“Burning Mandala!”  
“Venus love-me chain!”

The glowing chains were somehow first to go, as it flew around Housenka, and wrapped around the monster in a pillar shape. Thus preventing the monster from even speeding away. Housenka frantically looked for a way out of the chain's trap, but it was too late for her. The hoops of fire came next, as it managed to fly into the chains' pillar without cutting any of the chains..... and it flew right at the monster inside the pillar.

Once the rings of fire made contact with Housenka, her body was suddenly transformed into a large pillar of fire, with the chains encircling it in what was a pretty amazing display.

Housenka screamed as her body was finally burnt to a crisp. The heat was so hot that she could feel herself instantly turning to dust.....

And just like that, all of southern Smallville was now free from the influence of the alien flowers. This area was now purified.

Both Venus and Mars collapsed to the ground, relived that was over with.

“Crap, I think I have broken ribs. That monster really did a number on us, eh?” Venus groaned, as she gingerly touched her sides.

Mars couldn't understand Venus's heavy accent again, but she understood the feeling behind it anyway. So she simply nodded, and said: “My back's bleeding profusely from the glass. I think I need to go to the hospital. This is a lot of blood I'm losing, after all.”

There was a moment of silence. Then Venus spoke up. “Can you get up on your own? I don't think I can move at all.. I'm in too much pain.”

Mars chuckled weakly. “Ditto. So I guess we're stuck here until somebody comes along and help us.”

Venus glanced over at the growing pool of blood under Sailor Mars' body, and frowned.   
Damnit, She couldn't just let her fellow Sailor Warrior die of bleeding here just because she was in too much pain to move. What happened to having a stern, stiff upper lip and carrying on? After all that was the proper British way. Yeah, the British populace would be so embarrassed if they saw her like this...Here she was, a Representative of what a real British hero was supposed to be like...even if she might be too young for most people's tastes. And what do Americans see? A little girl letting somebody die just because she's in too much pain to move herself.

Venus struggled, but she managed to get to her feet. She was wobbling all over the place, but she actually did it. She then groaned as she bent down to pick Mars up.

Due to the fact that Linda had been a Kryptonian in her past life, she was able to pick up Mars without much problem, and carry her easily in what was a fireman's carry. It was so nice to have Super-strength as one of her abilities, even if it now hurt to move.

Mars looked down at Venus with an worried look. “What are you doing? You might be making it worse for yourself!”

Venus coughed. “I-I'll be fine. Stern stiff upper lip and all that. Now, where is the hospital?”

Mars pointed straight ahead. So Venus started dragging the two of them towards that direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--Jupiter and Mercury--

“GRR!!” Jupiter growled, as she tried to safely pin down the possessed citizen before he could hurt himself... or others.

Sailor Mercury finally got rid of the last alien flower, and then the citizen stopped putting up a fight.

The man's body went lax, and Jupiter slowly let him go. The man blinked, and then stared around with a very confused look on his face. Jupiter relaxed then, having seen this before.

For some reason, this weird flower also had a short-term memory loss effect on the citizens of Smallville. So when the two of them destroyed the flowers, the citizens would snap out of it and not remember what they had been doing before.

Lana supposed this was actually a very good thing... otherwise she was sure there was going to be a lot of strained relationships and awkward conversations going around.

Sailor Mercury grinned in satisfaction as she scanned the area using her holographic computer. “There, the entire west and east sides of Smallville is now purified thanks to us. And according to my readings... the southern part is too. So I guess Pete and Linda was able to deal with everything just fine.”

Jupiter stretched her arms, as she wondered: “I wonder if they had to deal with any hostile citizens like we had to? Gregory was actually stronger than he looked...!”

That's when the holographic computer bleeped, showing a blip on the holo-map. Sailor Mercury frowned, and turned to warn Jupiter.

“Be careful, there's something coming our way!”

Jupiter automatically scanned the distance for any signs of the enemy, and sure enough there was some weird plant-creature coming their way.

It appeared to be a female monster, with brown hair so light that it was bordering on blonde. She was dressed in what seemed to be a purple leotard outfit, and encircled around her right arm was brown vines. There was other brown vines wrapped around her body too, enhancing the lines of her body. Elf-like ears poked out the side of her head, giving her an elvish appearance. As she came closer Jupiter could tell that this monster was also wearing a light purple mask over her mouth and nose.

Jupiter wondered if there was a point to the mask. Did it have a secret identity too or were it simply a part of the outfit's aesthetic?

The monster quickly realized that she had already been spotted, and so knew it was pointless to do a quick sneak attack. Instead, she approached the two Sailor Warriors normally.

It then said, “Greetings, Sailor warriors. My name is >, and I shall be your opponent today. Prepare to die.”

Jupiter raised her eyebrows. “Wait. Your name is actually Grape??”  
Mercury couldn't help herself. She snorted loudly.

The monster twitched angrily. First Steve Hamilton, now this girl too? “No! My name is >!!”

Mercury shook her head. “I know it probably means something different due to the way you're pronouncing it... but to my ears it's still very similar sounding to the word Grape. It sounds like Grape to me.”

Jupiter smirked. It was actually fun to get under this monster's skin so easily. “It doesn't matter what your name really is... you're going down anyway, Grape.”

The monster's eyebrows twitched angrily. By the gods, she really hated humans and their total inability to hear her elegant language the way it was meant to be heard. And the way they kept on mocking her regal name... calling her some kind of fruit! Oh, they were going to die a slow, painful death....

“Grape” let out a loud road, as she unleashed a strong shock-wave that nearly knocked the sailor warriors off their feet. It was only due to the fact that the Sailor Warriors were on full alert and ready for anything that they didn't get knocked off their feet.

Jupiter dug her feet into the dirt, and smirked as the shockwave passed. She then ran at near inhuman speed towards the plant-woman, and landed a super-powered punch which sent it flying. It caused a large crater in the side of a nearby building, and it fell to the ground.

The plant woman got up quickly however, and started viciously sparring with Sailor Jupiter at super-speed. Each blow they landed on each other had the other one flying backwards a little, but they often both recovered quickly enough to get back into the fight. The whole scene looked like something out of an fight anime.

Chloe were standing back in the distance scanning the plant-woman for any weaknesses, and also monitoring how the fight was going. She frowned slightly when the holographic screens in front of her face told her that the plant-woman and Sailor Jupiter was evenly matched.

Sailor Jupiter had Amazonian strength that nearly matched that of a real Kryptonian, and also had most of the speed to match with that. That's why she could move so quickly and fight so powerfully up against any monster. Add on the fact that she had the power of lighting... she was truly a power-house.

“Grape” also had the same speed and strength, it seemed. So that's why it seemed as if they were so evenly matched when it came to a fist-fight between the two powerful beings. But this couldn't go on for too long.... if this kept up the entire town was going to end up trashed. Deep craters were already popping up everywhere on the streets where the two of them had been fighting. Chloe already knew those were going to take weeks for the town to repair and clean up.

Her eyes light up when the holo-screen zoomed in on the monster's right arm, which was wrapped entirely in brown vines. The scans said that the vines were filled with a white liquid.... which might make it conductive to electricity. Finally, a weakness that Lana would be able to exploit.

Chloe called out, “Jupiter! Her arm!”  
She didn't need to say any more than that because Lana knew what Chloe was talking about once she saw the right arm wrapped in vines.

Jupiter unleashed an supreme thunder attack just as she managed to touch the monster's right arm... and sure enough the liquid inside the vines caused the electricity to surge throughout the monster's body.

Grape screamed as 190,000 volts of electricity surged though her body, and in her desperation she actually ripped all of the vines off her body.  
As all of the vines were discarded, it turned out that Grape didn't really have a right arm after all... It was a series of vines shaped like a right arm to replicate the one she didn't have. It was basically the monster version of an artificial limb.

A part of Lana felt bad about the fact that she was beating up somebody who was clearly disabled, but the more pragmatic side of her pointed out that this was in fact a supernatural monster. This monster with a disability could do things that a normal human with disabilities couldn't... and it made her dangerous.

Sure enough, Grape leapt high in the air and unleashed a series of glowing bullet-shaped missiles straight at Sailor Jupiter using her remaining arm.

Jupiter managed to dodge in time, but only barely. The missiles exploded upon impact with the ground, and the shockwave from the explosion knocked Jupiter off her feet. Grape took this opportunity to pin Jupiter down into the ground while she started beating her up with her left arm.

Mercury couldn't just stand by and watch anymore... so she rushed in and delivered an swift kick to Grape's head.

While transformed, Chloe did not have the same amazonian strength or speed that Lana did... but her strength was still enhanced enough to send the monster flying away from Lana.

Sailor Jupiter jumped to her feet.“Thanks.” She said.

“No problem.” Mercury replied as the two of them turned to face Grape.

Grape growled. Damn, this was bad... she couldn't possibly take on Two Sailor Warriors at once... they were stronger than they looked. She had thought it might be easy to take them down since they were humans... but turns out that they had plenty of supernatural powers to make themselves an formidable opponent.

She noticed that her vines were lying nearby behind the Sailor Warriors, and she smirked. 

Well, now there was a idea...

She sent a psychic command to the vines that had been once a part of her body, and they started inching towards the Sailor Warriors. Meanwhile, she started verbally taunting them.

“What's this? Haven't anybody told you two that it's unfair to fight two against one? Or did that girl there become too weak for me to fight by herself?” Grape taunted, as she gestured at Sailor Jupiter.

Sailor Jupiter was about to fire off a snarky retort back when she suddenly found herself being wrapped in brown vines! She looked over and saw that Sailor Mercury was in the same situation.

They struggled to get free but all of their efforts were in vain. Grape chuckled. “You can't break out of them no matter how much you try. You see, my vines are stronger than steel!”

With that, she started firing off bullet-shaped energy missiles out of her remaining arm at machine-gun speeds. The Sailor Warriors struggled to get out of the way, but the vines firmly held them in place... and as an result they were forced to endure the powerful missiles that exploded upon impact with their bodies.

“ARRGH!!” Lana cried out in pain when one of the missiles made contact with her left leg and blew it apart. She panted in pain afterwards, as she turned to look at how bad it was. Her leg was still connected together, but just barely. There was bone sticking out of her leg at an unnatural angle...

It made her physically sick to look at her injuries, so she looked over at Chloe to see if she had it just as bad.

Chloe had managed to move her legs out of the way in time, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of her. One of her arms looked broken, and there was bad burns over half of Chloe's face.

Grape let out a loud laugh upon seeing how badly injured they were. “Goes to show you.... even though you might have the gift of the Kryptonians, you're still only human weakings! And now you two are going to die because you overstepped your boundaries!”

Jupiter unleashed her supreme thunder attack, targeting the vines that was holding her captive in an attempt to free herself. But she only ended up electrocuting herself a little bit, and the vines were still constructing around her very firmly like an boa constructor.

But that did give Mercury an idea. Chloe closed her eyes and breathed deeply as she called on all of her power.

There was a loud rumbling sound, as a nearby fire hydrant suddenly burst open spraying massive amounts of water everywhere. The pressure of the water had been strong enough for the spray of water to coat everyone in water...

“What the...?” Grape looked at the fire hydrant, wondering what the hell just happened.

Chloe took this chance, and cried out: “Shine Aqua Illusion!”

All the water in the area moved as if it was alive, rushing towards Grape and the Sailor Warriors. Within an blink of a eye, both Grape and the vines were completely encased in ice. 

Before Lana could even say anything, Chloe gestured to Lana that she should try breaking the vines now. And sure enough she was able to break the vines now that it had been weakened by ice.

Jupiter helped Mercury break open too, and they both turned to look at the monster who were now trapped in ice.

“Lana... Do as I say. Focus on yourself... pull on all of the power you have at the moment. And then attack her with all of your might! That's the only way to finish her off, I think.” Chloe said, as she gingerly touched her broken arm.

Lana simply nodded, and took a few deep breaths as she focused. Electricity started surging like crazy around her hands, as she put her hands together as if she was praying. She opened her eyes to glare at the monster that had been giving them so much trouble, and cried out: “Sparkling wide pressure!!”

She then lobbed a large disc of gathered electric energy at the monster.... and within moments the ice-encased monster exploded. Bits of ice went flying everywhere, and the street was now littered with bits of monster body parts. But within moments the monster parts started to turn into dust. And with that there was no trace that Grape even existed in the first place. 

Both Lana and Chloe then sat back on the ground, relived that was over.

“You know... earlier today I was actually wishing for a good fight so that I would have a way to vent my annoyance at how bad my day was going today.” Lana said as she looked over at Chloe, who were tearing parts of her sailor uniform off to make a tourniquet for her broken arm. She chuckled weakly. “Goes to show you that you should really be more careful about what you wish for, huh?”

Chloe raised her eyebrows at this, but simply nodded in agreement. She ripped off another section of her skirt ,and handed it over to Lana. “Yeah... now use this as an tourniquet for your leg. If you don't know how, just do what I tell you to....”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark was super-speeding towards the mansion, having been told by the dogs that the others would meet up with him there once they were done purifying the town.

He had the mansion in his sights now... but a fast moving object cut him off and knocked him off his feet. He got to his feet, and looked around.  
In front of him was a female plant-based monster. She had pale white skin and long dark hair, which was styled in a Japanese hime haircut. She was wearing a light green leotard bodysuit that had the neck stretched up towards her fact to make a mask that covered her nose and mouth. There was plenty of large leaves attached to the bodysuit as her gloves, boots and some kind of protective chest piece.

She spoke. “I am Suzuran, and I see that your wretched allies actually managed to kill my sisters when they were spreading the flowers all over town. Well, in that case, I guess I'll have to just take my vengeance out on you!”

With that, she started running at him.

Clark groaned at this. He didn't really want to fight anybody just so that he could get into the mansion. And he didn't feel like wasting any more time when Lex could be in trouble. With that thought in mind he simply used his heat vision on the monster.

Suzuran barely had time to react as her body was reduced to ashes.

Clark took a look around to see if there was anybody else here to stop him, and then super-sped into the mansion.


End file.
